The Crystal WEAPON
by YunaBlaze
Summary: Gaia have many WEAPONs, most of them were, as their name indicates, simply weapons, but some of them have feelings. One WEAPON might be able to change the fate of Gaia's heros and save them from the spiralling cycle of pain and death.
1. Chapter 1

**Discalimer - I don't own any Final Fantasy VII's characters, only my OC belongs to me.**

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><p>The Child from the Sea<p>

_This story began at the creation of the Planet's WEAPONs. Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond and Ultimate were Gaia's last line of defence should a great danger befallen on the Planet; Jade was meant to be awaken should the One who will Burn the World be summoned; Omega was destined to bring Gaia to the stars when it reached its end; Minerva was the goddess who chose Gaia's Champion and warriors and overlooked the Lifestream; Chaos, the demon created through Omega, was a harvester of souls for the journey towards the endless space and ruler of the dark and tainted Lifestream within the Planet's pulse._

_Though all these WEAPONs were recorded and remembered by the Ancients, all of them except for one..._

_A lone WEAPON that was forgotten... The WEAPON was known by the name Crystallus or the Crystal WEAPON, it was created by Gaia to be the Guardian of all life on the Planet, their healer and teacher._

_Crystallus was respected and loved by the children, Ancient and Human, and it had brought great joy to everyone. The WEAPON loved these children so much, that it had cast away the armours, the weapon and the mask that Gaia had given to it at its birth and walked among them as a loving, powerful and wise woman._

_Alas, the happiness it brought ended abruptly when a being crash-landed on Gaia, though deeply wounded by the meteor that had struck it, the Planet remained strong and with Crystallus, the children remained unharmed. After the dust settled, Crystallus saw something moved among the rubbles of meteor. One of the children, curious and worried, moved to see what the being was, but Crystallus never would have imagined that the act of compassion of this child would result the death of many of its beloved children._

_The being, which was later known as Calamity of the Sky, took control of human's body and set out to destroy everything that Gaia had created. The Ancients' race was quickly endangered by this alien creature. Though many grew to hate the face the Calamity wore and wished to kill this being with their own bare hands, but none of them were able to hear the anguish and painful cries of the child trapped inside its own body. No one hear them, not even Gaia, except the Crystal WEAPON._

_Crystallus couldn't bear to kill the child or to let the monster tortured the youngling's soul anymore, made the greatest sacrifice, it offered the Calamity its body as a host. The monster, which had learned through the memories of the child of what a WEAPON of the Planet was capable of, accepted the offer and released the human and took over Crystallus' body, causing its body to change beyond recognition._

_The Calamity of the Sky thought that its victory over the Planet was at hand, but instead of victory, it was its downfall that it had acquired. Crystallus used its body as a bait to lure it into a trap, so that the remaining Ancients could combine their power and seal the monster away._

_Now without a body to maintain its existence, Crystallus was ready to be reabsorbed by Gaia for failing to protect its children, but Minerva came to its aid. The warrior goddess took Crystallus to where Chaos slumbered deep inside the crystal that lay within a dark moist caver and sealed the Crystal WEAPON with Omega's squire where both of them would remained bodiless until it was their time to be reawaken._

_Years and years passed away as the two entities slept through time, their soul touched one and other, like two twins in a mother's womb. However their slumber was interrupted by the arrival of two humans, who took Chaos away from its resting place and had accidentally release Crystallus into the flowing stream that had developed in the cave which led the entity to the ocean._

_After flowing deep under the ocean floor for an unknown among of time, Crystallus' power slowly gathered whatever memories the WEAPON held to rebuild a body to host the soul of the entity. It took two decades for its power to successfully create the body of that of a 12-year-old girl._

_Crystallus' aimless drifting came to a stop by a fisherwoman who harvested pearls as a living saw the glowing green light that the small body was emanating. The fisherwoman at first thought it was a buried treasure of the sea, but instead it was a child she found._

_The young woman believed that this child was perhaps a reincarnation of the great serpent Leviathan that her people worshiped or maybe Leviathan's own child! She carefully took the small child back to the surface where the Crystal WEAPON took its very first breath as a real human being._

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><p><em>The fisherwoman brought the girl back to her small house, the glow on the body had already fade when they had left the water, so no one around the small village noticed the woman and the child in her arms.<em>

_The young woman was a lonely person in the village for none of the villagers thought it was appropriated for a woman to go pearl-diving, hunting wild animals and fighting bandits. She preferred to be able to protect everyone than be protected by men who immediately got afraid when they saw their enemies. She wanted people to know that fact so much that she had even changed her name from Miyo which meant beautiful child to Ichigo, the one who protects._

_Looking down at the child she carefully placed on her bed, she tried to think of a great name for this little girl, a name that represented something special. She thought about naming her Umiko, meaning child of the sea, but it was a little saddening, it was like a reminder for the child to remember she was an orphan found in the sea. No, it had to be something else._

_After a while of deep thinking, the woman decided to name this child as Yuuko, which meant evening child, because she found her at night. If she broke the name apart, Yuu vaguely meant mysterious and Ko for child which fit with the girl who was a very big mystery to her and probably the entire planet._

_So afterward, Crystallus was known only as Yuuko, a mysterious child who came from the ocean. Her existence would later affect many people's destiny._

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><p><strong>I really don't know where this story might be going, but I am still trying to make it worth a while at least. So I hope anyone who read this story could tell what they think. Reviews are greatly appreciated as always.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. Only my OC, Yuuko, belongs to me. ENJOY!**

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><p>Painful Cries<p>

_**Five years later... Somewhere in a forest on Wutai...**_

Yuuko smiled playfully as she aimed her arrow towards her latest prey and shot it down before it could get away. She urged the wild chocobo she was riding to go faster and when she was close enough, she swooped down, grabbed hold of the bunny's leg and pulled it off the ground.

_And that makes ten!_ The young teenager yelled in her mind victoriously as she stuffed the dead animal into her bag.

If the villagers saw her at this instance, there were only two thoughts that crossed their mind. First, Yuuko gave off the impression of a great intimidating warrior, with her long black hair blew up by the wild wind, her slightly tan skin made the golden hue of her cat-like eyes stood out more, the magnificently carved bow she carried in her hand with her stylized belt quiver on her hips, the black baggy clothes she wore that covered almost every inch of skin along the black leather belts that she wore on her forearms, which held five small kunais on each side, and on her tights that helped keep her clothes from being a hindrance to her when she moved, her outfit completed with a pair of black knee-high boots. Second, Yuuko had inherited her mother's curse of learning and doing things she shouldn't, which made her a tomboy, but a tomboy who knew when she had to behave and act like a lady.

Though Yuuko often ignored the latter remark of the villagers, for her there were no appropriate or inappropriate things that a woman decided to learn. She was quite skilled in archery, swordsmanship and survival skills, thanked to her mother who taught her every skill she knew; she gained a great amount of knowledge about the wild plants' properties, because the elder's wife once caught her with a poisonous plant she was about to pick and immediately lectured her about every sort of plant that the planet had before she fainted in exhaustion; she also learned how to fight in hand-to-hand combat from master Zangan before the old martial artist who lived a sort of nomad-life left their village.

Everyone thought she was odd, but they still liked her, for Yuuko was honest, a little too stubborn and too direct in her comments, but she was protective and caring. Ever since her sudden appearance in their village, life seemed to blossom very quickly in this old quiet village.

Though no one knew the secrets she had kept to herself, except her mother. She could hear _Voices_, voices that came from people around her, from the animals and from the dead and beyond. Yuuko could hear them ever since she woke up in her house five years ago, though they were often whispers she could easily ignored, but sometimes she would hear a great howl or cry from somewhere far, far away. Also, she got this sort of animal sense that helped her smell things like feelings, pains and all sort of things. Sometimes, it made her wondered if she was some kind of werewolf or something alike since she depended on this oddness of hers to recognize people's scent more than their face. Not that they affected her life much, but these days, the _Voices_ had gotten louder, probably because of the war.

ShinRa and Wutai had started a war two year ago, because their ruler, Lord Godo, refused to let ShinRa placed a mako reactor in their land. Yuuko sighed sadly at how things had progressed to this day. It simply pained her to see this war was started because of a simple refusal, though there was nothing she could do, but all she and the villagers could do was offer some of the food they had harvested and sent them to the capital city for the army.

Almost every man in the village had left to join the army to defend their homeland, only a few stayed behind to protect the village. Of course her mother often tried to convince the other women to take up a weapon and learn how to use it to defend them, but she was completely ignored. At least Yuuko could help her mother should a battle ever arise. After all she owed everyone a great debt for teaching her what she wanted to know and for taking care of her for so long.

Yuuko's slowly drifted back to her catches and she almost drooled at the thought of what sort of dish her mother could cook with them. Her daydreaming was interrupted by the distant sound though, the sound of a gong.

_A WARNING!_ Yuuko thought when she realized where it was coming from and made her chocobo ran faster towards her village. When she was close enough to see outskirt of the village through the trees, she saw a small group of men in blue uniforms and silver helmets, which she recognized as the army of ShinRa, was marching towards the village with their guns readied. _Damn! I thought they had only started to attack the southern border! Are they planning of attacking the capital city from both northern and southern border? That's not good._

As fast as lightning, the young huntress drew out three arrows from her quiver and shot three of them at the shoulder that would prevent them from shooting with guns for a while. The young huntress did a quick math in her head and cursed lowly, since she only had fifteen arrows left and there were still twenty soldiers to deal with. _Guess I'll have to switch to my kunais later._

The soldiers finally took notice of her and some started shooting at her instead of the villagers, thinking she was a simple weakling that they could easily take down with their more advanced weapons. Well, they were wrong. Yuuko stirred her ride left and right to dodge the incoming bullets while pulling out three other arrows and shot down three more soldiers. She continued this process again and again until she was close the remaining force of the army and she was fresh out of arrows.

_Five-against-one, huh? What a great odds._ Yuuko thought sarcastically as she tossed her bow away and drew out four of her small knives from her arms with her free hands. Then she leapt off of her chocobo and threw them at the panicking soldiers like an expert ninja, which hit two out of the remaining five. _Three-against-one. Better than nothing._

The huntress quickly stabbed the shoulder of the nearest grunt and twisted it a little so that the man would not tried to grab her from behind, since he would be too busy to try to fend off the pain. She was about to finished the last two, but they were shot down by someone else, one was shot by an arrow and the other, a gun.

'Hey! Stop stealing the spotlight from us! That's very un-lady-like of you!' someone shouted teasingly. Yuuko turned around to face her helpers with a sheepish grin. Her mother, Ichigo, wore a blue version of her hunting gears with her shoulder length black hair tied into a small ponytail was watching her proudly and giving her a thumb-up. A man with short black hair, who wore samurai-like colorless armour, holding a halberd with a customized rifle, was grinning like an idiot. The man was named Kai, he was the son of the village's elder and he was also the head chief of their people.

'Sorry, I couldn't help it I guess...' the young girl muttered embarrassingly as the wild chocobo made its way to her, holding the bow and the bag she had dropped with its beak. She took the items that the chocobo carried and rubbed its head gently as it cooed under her attention before it returned to the wild nature it belonged to.

Laughing matters aside, Yuuko turned her attention back to the adults with seriousness. 'Those men were from ShinRa. Does that means they wanted to attack from both the southern and northern boarders?'

'I doubt that would be the case,' Kai answered, now looking like a serious samurai general. 'They are probably thinking of using the villages and towns in the northern border as decoys to trick us into thinking that we will be attacked from both sides. That way, they will force us to split up the armies into several groups to defend the borderlines and when we realize what their plan was, it will be too late for us to counterattack the stronger force coming from the south.'

Yuuko nodded in agreement, because from what they heard from the coming and going of shinobi messengers, ShinRa had hit the southern border really hard, but Wutai's soldiers were great in laying traps and planning ambushes, so the situation was pretty much at a stalemate for now. It would also explain the army's sudden appearance. This was not a good sign.

'We should move everyone to the capital city,' Yuuko's mother declared. 'It's the safest place in Wutai, since we are sitting ducks in the opening here. ShinRa could easily surround us and beat us relentlessly.'

Kai hesitated for a second before he nodded in agreement. Staying in the village would only endanger everyone if the next army who came marching at their doorstep had more than just guns with them. 'I'll go warn everyone to start packing, we're leaving at nightfall. Take whatever provisions you can.'

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><p>It took them more time than they thought to gather everything they deemed necessary for their journey to the city, but nevertheless everyone was ready to leave their home for now, hoping they still had a place called home to return to after the war.<p>

Ichigo told her daughter to leave with the first group who were mostly elderly people and children with Kai as the group leader. Yuuko, of course, refused to leave the village without her mother, since they would not know if the enemy decided to attack the village while their group moved towards the capital, she didn't want her mother to face them alone.

In the end, Yuuko found herself at the rear of the group, grumbling like an angry ox, with her quiver full of arrows and a short katana attached to it. She walked with some grandparents and the children; some were ignorant of the situation and thought they were simply going to visit the biggest city in Wutai, other were sad to be away from home. They were making good progressed with the wild chocobos helping them carry some heavy loads and if they continued at this pace they should be able to reach the city tomorrow in no time.

'Yuu-chan,' an elderly voice called out, snapping Yuuko out of her foul mood. The young huntress smiled at the old woman who called her.

'Chiori-san, is something matter?' Yuuko asked with a bright smile as she approached the elderly woman. Chiori-san was a very kind and wise woman and she was also the priestess of the small Leviathan Temple in the village, she often let her played in the temple despite the rule of quietness and she always had a story up her sleeve to tell.

'Here, take these my child,' Chiori-san said discreetly as she shoved a small bag into her hands.

Curious, Yuuko opened it to see what it held that was so important and gasped in surprise. The bag was full of Materias and an armguard. Since the start of the war, their Ruler had forbidden people to use Materia as they were weapons that ShinRa used and they did not want to give a reason for their enemy to believe that they needed their mako reactor to make them.

Well, it was true that materias were used and created by their enemy, but Yuuko thought so otherwise, she had seen some materias that were naturally formed in a mako spring that was located near the mountain. From the looks of the crystal orbs that were inside the bag and the rather pulsing light they emanated, they were most definitely from the nature.

'Where did you get these?' Yuuko asked, amazed by how this old lady was able to keep these hidden and got more than enough for everyone to be equipped with one.

'Being a priestess, I often have to go and pray in the water cave, where there is a path that leads to an outside mako spring. It's easy for me sneak some back to my house without raising any suspicions,' Chiori-san explained with a chuckled, but the sound quickly died in her throat when she looked up.

Noticing the terror in her eyes, Yuuko turned to see what had shocked the woman so much and her eyes widen too when she saw what was in the air. Black smokes and red light. Black smokes and red lights coming from where their village was!

_Mother!_ Yuuko quickly strapped the armguard on her left arm, taking out a two materias that felt right in her hand and putting them into the armour, before she ran towards the direction of the smokes, completely ignoring the cries from Kai and the others who were trying to tell to stay in the group.

Yuuko was always a fast runner, she could run all day long and she would not even break a sweat. She could outrun a chocobo in a race, since she had tired that once and it had earned her some kind of respect from the giant yellow birds who allowed her to ride them. She knew that she could easily reach the village in a few minutes if she put more efforts in it and she did, it was like she was a part of the wind.

Her heart slammed against her ribcage hard when she reached the village, fear, sadness and anger coursed through her. Everyone's house was on fire, even the temple wasn't spared from the pyre. Her eyes searched frenetically around, trying to spot her mother or someone else.

'Uhg,' a weak voice sounded somewhere on her left. Yuuko turned to find a bleeding man lying on his back next to a burning house, she realized it was Gin, one of the fishermen who liked to joke around and was the jester of the village. He was also one of the people who had volunteered to stay behind to guard the second group.

'GIN!' Yuuko cried out and went to kneel beside the man.

'Yuu...? Is that you?' Gin spoke the words weakly, his eyes weren't focus.

'Yes...' the huntress replied breathless, sacred as she felt the man's life slipping away like water from her fingers. The Voices were growing louder in her ears as if they were beckoning Gin to come with them. 'Where's everyone, where's my mother?'

Gin said nothing and used the last bit of his strength to just point at one of the burning buildings that had its entrance barricaded from outside. Horror struck her to her very core as she shook her head in disbelief of what atrocity the men of ShinRa had done.

Then she heard a cry filled with pain, she quickly got and ran to the source of it. What Yuuko saw made her blood ran cold, her mother on the ground with a large nasty diagonal sword wound on her back, her clothes were covered in blood and so did her face. The men in a blue sleeveless uniform and another one in purple who stood around the woman were laughing... They actually had the guts to laugh!

With a battle cry, Yuuko charged towards the group. She pulled out her katana and killed the one who stood with his back facing her with a little remorse. Surprised, the men tired to fight back, but Yuuko activated one of the materia and sent out a powerful wave of thunder towards them. All of them got hit, except the one in purple who jumped away just in time.

Yuuko stood protectively in front of her mother, her weapon in hand and eyes with flames that burned as great as the fire that surrounded them. Locking eyes with the soldier who seemed to be the leader of the group, she whispered deadly, 'What have you done?'

'What do you think we did you Wutai brat?' the man replied insultingly, seemingly confident despite he had just witnessed the death of his men by the hand of a simple girl. What cold-hearted bastard!

'They were unarmed, only a few actually had a weapon,' Yuuko seethed as she tightened her grip on the handle of her katana. 'Most of them were mothers and old men who could barely even defend themselves! YOU AND YOUR MEN LOCKED THEM IN A BURNING HOUSE! TORTURE A WOMAN WHO COULD NO LONGER FIGHT BACK! HAVE YOU NO SHAME OF WHAT YOU DID?'

'So what?' the soldier replied, unfazed by her words, and smiled at her. 'Their lives were as worthless as yours and that bitch on the ground. You Wutaineses don't know when you should accept who's at the top of the world. ShinRa is so powerful that he could wipe you guys out any day. And we, the SOLDIERs, are the best of the bests and we could defeat whatever you throw at us.'

'If you guys are so great, your comrades wouldn't be lying on the ground dead!' Yuuko shouted. Disgusted by the fact that the man was so full of himself and the company he worked for.

'These 3rds and army grunts?' The soldier gestured to the bodies on the ground. 'They are simply a bunch of wannabes who don't even compare to us 2nds and 1sts.'

_How could he even say those things about his fallen brothers in arms?_ Yuuko thought disbelievingly as her anger towards this man grew tenfold. Sure, she had killed men who came from ShinRa, but she would still respect them and wouldn't go and around tell others how great she was and how pathetic her enemies were. She respected the dead and let them died in peace with their pride intact, but this man, not only did he not respect them, he stripped them of their pride and stomped on them like they were nothing meaningful.

She had enough of this! The swordswoman sent out another wave of lightning towards the man who yet-again dodged her spell and threw one of his own towards her. Yuuko who just realized that if she moved the fireball that was cast in her direction would hurt her mother. So instead of dodging the strike, she held her ground and blocked it with her sword and body.

_This is nothing!_ Yuuko thought, ignoring the burning sting on her arm that didn't have an armguard on it like the other.

The man chuckled in amusement before he said, 'You are pretty damn pathetic bitch, aren't you?' Pointing the tip of sword towards the girl's mother. 'Why do you protect a dead body? It's not like the bitch was going to complaint about getting a few more hits.'

The soldier burst out laughing, but Yuuko ignored it as she listened to the Voices. They were drowning out the laugh and she could hear her mother's voice. It was weak, but it was still there, so she still had a chance to save her. _I have to end this quickly!_ She used the other materia that she had, and threw out a small whirlwind towards the man who blasted it away with a fireball she was forced to block against.

'You really are an idiot, aren't you? You think you could win by throwing whatever spells you have at me without moving from your spot! Only a moron thinks like that. Oh wait! You are one!' the man joked and laughed harder, underestimating the girl's capability which was exactly what she wanted.

Yuuko instantly released another wind spell, but this one unlike the last one was a wind slash, it cut through the fire the man cast and cut through the man's helmet on the upper right side. Yuuko smiled satisfyingly when the man cried out in pain and shouted something about his eye and then she blasted him into one of the burning house with another small tornado.

With justice served, Yuuko turned her attention to her wounded mother and carried her on her back and ran towards the forest, leaving behind the burning village. 'Let's go mother.'

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><p>Yuuko tried ran as fast as she could while carrying her mother and talking a one way conversation. She hoped she would make it back to their group in time. Her mother's voice was becoming fainter and fainter and the Voices were getting louder.<p>

'Yuuko...?' the weak woman whispered.

'Yes, mother. It's me, Yuuko. You are safe, we're going to rejoin Kai's group very soon!' Yuuko spoke those words encouragingly, hoping her mother would endured the pain and fight back Death.

'Kai... that guy could be so stupid sometimes...' Ichigo said in a soft weak voice. Yuuko tightened her hold on her mother and forced her already tired feet to run faster. 'I really like Kai... you know...'

Of course she knew. Everyone in the village could see that two of them were obsessed with each other. Though Yuuko's mother never accepted Kai's approaches, she downright ignored them and they had been playing this game of cat-and-mouse since before Yuuko's arrival.

'But I don't... want to be tied down by him...' Ichigo whispered quietly. 'I want to be free, to make as much noise... as I want and do whatever as I please... He's a really good guy... but he's too quiet and serious sometimes...'

The Voices were quickly drowning her mother's voice. Yuuko continued to run even though her feet were screaming at her to stop. _Please! Please! Please great Leviathan! Please spare my mother's life! She doesn't deserve this fate!_

'It's so quiet... so quiet... I shouldn't like this... but,' her mother said, her breaths coming short. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so... bad if I did go out with Kai... It's so peaceful... Right? Yuuko...'

_Mother... _

_Did you know that Kai had changed for you?_

_That the reason he stays behind, instead of going to the army like his father had told him to, was because of you._

_That he abandoned the traditions of his family just to be with you._

_He give up the title he might earn for his family, change from being a respectful stoic gentleman to a carefree man who wants nothing more than being with you, the one he loves above everything else._

Yuuko stopped breathing for a moment and her feet slowed their movement until they came to a stop. She stood there, straining her ears to hear her mother's voice, but it was silent. The Voices had left too. Then she felt something wet dropped on her face, at first she thought she was crying, but then she noticed that it was raining. 'Come on mother. We don't want to catch a cold right now.'

She continued her way, tearless, and walked and walked until she was able to make out the human shapes and a small fire from afar. Yuuko walked and walked until she was able to see the faces of her people and hear their faint whispers in a small cave.

Kai looked relieved as he made his way towards them, but when he was close enough the relief smile he wore dropped. Yuuko walked passed him until she stood in front of the group and placed her mother's body down. The rain had washed away all blood on her mother's face. Her mother remained as beautiful as she remembered with the peaceful smile forever frozen in place.

Yuuko knelt down, placing her mother's hands together. Everyone was silent and crying for Miyo, the strong headed woman who changed her name to Ichigo to prove to everyone that she was also a warrior among them.

Yuuko felt someone arms wrapped around her gently and her head was placed on a colorless armoured chest. Her much smaller and weak arms slowly returned the gesture, but they fell limply at her side after a second. She was so tired and exhausted from everything that had happened in such a short timeframe.

Suddenly, she felt something bubbling in her chest. It was an odd and uncomfortable feeling. It was like someone was squeezing her heart and released it and repeated the action. She wanted to do something, something she knew that could help get rid of this pain, but she wasn't sure what it was or if she wanted to. She had to stay strong in front of everyone. For her mother. For Kai.

'If you want to cry, then cry, don't hold it back,' Kai said in a stern, yet gentle tone. Yuuko could hear the tears flowing in his voice. 'Cry it all out!'

Yuuko made a few whimpering noises, trying to hold her tears back and keeping the pain inside her chest, before she finally caved in and let out a roaring cry filled with sadness and pain that was so similar to the howl she had heard coming from the Voices.

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><p><strong>Maybe I shouldn't be writing this after watching "First Knight" with my parents and I can't stop crying while writing the lower half of this chapter. Anyway, please review to tell me if it was ok, I am trying my best to follow the timeline of FF7, I hope I got everything right. Thank you for all those who support this story!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer - I don't own any characters of Final Fantasy VII, they all belong to their creators in Square Enix. I only own the OC Yuuko. Enjoy!**

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><p>Message<p>

Yuuko, Kai and the rest of the villagers arrived at the great city with a heavy heart two days after the burial. They have buried Yuuko's mother inside the cave, so that she would be protect from the elements of nature and from the animals, it took Kai sometimes to mark Miyo's name on a stone, but this was all they could do.

Yuuko stayed close to Kai, who was the only one who shared the same amount of pain as she was, but he was less broken than she was. She was deaf and blind to the world that continued to revolve around her. Her body suddenly seemed so heavy for her to move. The Voices seemed to be sad too and were trying to cheer her up, but she ignored them and everything.

Everyone was led to a temple where the monks were kind of enough to let them stay until it was safe for them leave. The villagers quietly settled down in the rooms they were offered, except Yuuko.

Kai had left to speak with Lord Godo, leaving her alone in the room. Not liking the enclosed room, she left and walked into the kairō, a long roofed portico-like passage, only to stop to look at the small quiet garden. The pain inside her chest was still as fresh as last night, it hadn't left her alone and it seemed to be getting worse and worse. She wanted to cry again, but she couldn't, it was like there weren't any tears left in her to cry out.

Yuuko was so distracted by her pain that she didn't notice an old monk's arrival until he spoke, 'What troubles you so child?'

Silence was his answer. The girl just wanted to be left alone, because she just didn't have the strength in her to talk to anyone anymore. Her mother was the only family she had, the only person who she had memories of. She had no memories of where she came from, when she was born, who she was and why she was in the ocean when she was found. Without her mother, she had lost her identity. Yuuko just wasn't sure of whom she was exactly anymore.

'You are not the only one in pain,' the old monk started after a long pause. 'Many other children are in pain, even though some still cling on the hope that they will see their parents again, but they still have to face the harshness of reality that presents itself in front of them. Even if you let yourself drown in your own pain, the world will continue its cycle, water will continue its flow and time will march on. Nothing and no one will slow down or stop for you.'

'Wounds can easily be heal and scars leave many unpleasant memories behind, but that is only a part of one's life, child. Your story might not have a happy beginning, but your story is still very far from its ending. Staying inside your memories and chasing after a past that can't return to you won't wipe away the scars and save you from the pains you have. Now the roads are before you, choose the path you want or stay at where you stand is all up to you. No one can help on what you decide that you will do or will not do,' the old monk finished as he walked away. 'May the great Leviathan watch over you child.'

Yuuko had stayed silent during the entire conversation, her thoughts were running amok. Could she really move on with this pain? Could she endure this pain? Would she have to face this pain again? Yes. She probably would and many others would too as long as this war continued.

_No, everyone will have to face the pain of losing someone one day. Death will come to anyone, no matter who they are..._ Yuuko hesitated in her thoughts as she watched a leaf fell into the pond, making a ripple that expanded until it touches the borders of the pond. _All we can do is cherished every second we have... until it was time to say goodbye... Then we will just have to continue walking down the paths we pick until it was our time to meet up with Death._

Yuuko clenched her hands into fists as she made her decision. _I am going to make sure that I will do everything that I could to protect those who I cared and loved. I will not let them be hurt._

She looked up at the bright sky above her. _Don't worry mother... I'm alright now. I'll be fine. Goodbye._

With that, she walked away. Her next destination: Lord Godo's council room. She was going to end this war one way or another.

* * *

><p>Yuuko had more or less forced her way into the council room, because the guards weren't sure how to drag her away without manhandling her too much. Smart, otherwise they would be covered in bruises if they tried to.<p>

She pushed opened the ornate door, surprising everyone in the council which included Kai. When the advisors and commanders realized who had just interrupted their meeting, dozen of them started to protest at the same time, but they were quickly silenced by the middle-aged man who was resting on his knees on an embroidered cushion, his clothes made of expensive silk with the royal emblem marked on his sleeves. If she had to guess, this man would be Lord Godo.

'My lord, I apologize. She is-' Kai started to explain, but he was quickly cut off by Yuuko.

'My name is Yuuko,' Yuuko started, unfazed by others' reaction about her rudeness and disrespectfulness.

Lord Godo lifted his hand and everyone fell silent once more. The old ruler stared straight into her eyes, judging and analysing. Yuuko wouldn't let herself be intimidated and she would show these people that neither threats nor insults they threw at her would swayed her from the goal she had set to achieve.

'Please, take a seat young lady,' the ruler of Wutai gestured to one of the cushion next to Kai. Yuuko gave a small bow before she made her to her seat with Kai throwing anxious glances at her.

After she took her seat, the lord asked, 'Why, might I ask, must you interrupted our meeting, Lady Yuuko?'

Yuuko stared back at Lord Godo with the strong gaze she had as she said, 'I'll get straight to the point. I want to end this war.'

'You just want to join the army?' one of the advisors asked incredulously.

'I am not _intending_ to join the army,' Yuuko sneered at the man before she returned her attention back to the ruler of their nation. 'I want the war end in a peace treaty with ShinRa.'

This caused more of an uproar from all those who were present in the room, only Kai and Lord Godo remained silent. Both of them were unsure if it was an acceptable suggestion or a downright bad one, but their thought would immediately changed when one of the advisors said that she was a woman and that she had no right to discuss anything with them.

'No right?' Yuuko repeated the words in a low dangerous voice. Everyone went silent at the tone. 'You dare say that I have no right in this meeting because I am a woman.'

Her blazing golden eyes locked with the now cowering advisor. 'I am a woman. A woman who had witnessed ShinRa's men burned my village to the ground, trapping good innocent men and women inside a burning building and torturing my mother who fought them to her last bits of strength. _I_ have to see my friends died in the fire, _I_ have to fight those soldiers alone, _I _have to carry my half-dead mother on my back and ran miles and miles trying to reach my friends, _I _have to be only one by her side when she drew her last breath!

'My mother was the person who I admired and respected, it was she who taught me how to fight! It was she who taught me how to never let anyone think that just because I am a _woman_ that they could insult and belittle me as they please! Now, my mother, my one and only family is dead!' Yuuko shouted angrily as she stood up and glared at everyone, daring them to interrupt her and belittle her just to defend their damned opinions. 'But I am not the only one here who had lost a parent. Some lost their family, others the ones they love. I have my first taste it! Anger and sadness were they only feeling I have then, but I will not _become_ ShinRa! I will not go and set out to kill innocents! I will let their soldiers keep their pride intact as they died! I want no more bloodshed! Matters not the honour or pride of our people! A bloodshed is a bloodshed! No matter what you say, no matter how you picture it to everyone! It is still a bloodshed!'

'Our land won't return back to its former glorious state! Our soils and rivers are already tainted red in this war! Do all of you wish to see Wutai a land filled with the dead? Do all of you wish your children to grow up in a place that holds nothing but sadness and hatred? ANSWER ME!' Yuuko snarled. No one dared answer. 'WHAT DOES PRIDE AND HONOUR HOLD WHEN ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES WERE NOTHING MORE THAN MERE CORPS? THERE IS NOTHING TO GAIN IN THIS WAR! PEOPLE ARE ALL SUFFERING ALREADY! I DON'T WANT ANOTHER CHILD TO CARRY HIS MOTHER ON HIS BACK AND RETURN TO THEIR PEOPLE JUST TO FIND THAT HIS MOTHER WAS ALREADY DEAD ON THEIR BACK!'

Silence reigned over the entire council and the only sounds they could hear were Yuuko's heavy breaths. No one knew what to say, half of them were speechless after the girl's speech, the other half had simply lost their heart to contradict this girl's words.

It was Lord Godo who broke the silence. 'Lady Yuuko, this treaty you are talking about is near impossible. Not because of our pride and honour.' He added when he saw the girl was about to protest. 'The one who led ShinRa's campaign is Lord Sephiroth and our spies reported that dozen of camps and barricades were placed around the main base where Lord Sephiroth is located deep within the southern border. No messenger of ours would be able get passed their number to deliver the message.'

Yuuko took a deep breath before she asked, 'If a messenger I knew could deliver it. Would you hold the peace treaty?'

'I, Lord Godo Kisaragi, Great Ruler of Wutai gives my words to Lady Yuuko that I will end this war by negotiating with ShinRa,' Lord Godo vowed solemnly.

'Bu-but-but who, my lord? I hear no one who is brave enough, if not foolish enough to attempt such dangerous task,' one of the advisors stuttered. 'This is a suicide mission! None of our messengers will even dare approached that base! Who will accept such an assignment?'

'I will.' Everyone turned to stare at Yuuko. 'I am confident that I will be able to reach the base where this Sephiroth is and deliver the message.'

'This is ludicrous.'

'But not impossible,' Yuuko replied and looked deep into her ruler's eyes. 'I am wiling to forfeit my life to accomplish this goal.'

'No, my lord-' Kai tried to dissuade his emperor, but he was once again cut off.

'Then so be it. Lady Yuuko I will sent you the negotiation treaties later this evening, please prepare for your departure,' Wutai's emperor said, sealing the deal. 'Dismiss!'

Everyone stood and bow respectfully before they left, till only Kai and Yuuko remained behind.

'I know what you think,' Yuuko started, but she was surprised when she was grabbed the shoulders.

'WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?' Kai shouted as he shook her. 'Do you have any idea how lucky when you were able to get out of here without being thrown into the dungeon or getting beheaded? Now you just accept to deliver a message into an Ifrit's Hellpit! Have you gone mad?'

Yuuko was too stunned to immediately form coherent answer. Kai had never lost control of his emotions before, not even when he saw her mother dead, seeing the man this distressed shocked Yuuko more than she thought. _Then again, this is what makes us human. Our emotions are often our master._

'Kai...' Yuuko said gently, she felt like she was trying to calm down a behemoth. 'I meant what I said. I don't want anyone else feel the pain I did. I don't want to see another person drag the body of someone they love back hoping that they could still be saved.'

Kai had loosened his hold on her shoulders. 'I know that no matter what I do, I will never be able to prevent everyone from dying one day, but I can still help them buy some times before they must go back to Lifestream.' _Hmm? Where did that come from?_ 'Kai, if no one else can deliver the treaties to stop this war, but me, I'll do it, no matter how many you ask me. I don't want to prove that I am great or anything. I just want to save people from tasting the bitterness of losing your only family or someone they love dearly in this meaningless war.'

The young girl watched as Kai sighed heavily as he covered his face with one of his hand while his other hand remained on her shoulder. The man who her mother loved took a shaky breath before he said, 'You are really like your mother you know. Always not caring what the others think or feel, just doing what you think is the right thing. You two are too reckless...'

Now that they are close and Yuuko was no longer depressing, she noticed that Kai's scent had changed. In fact, his scent reminded her of her mother's. Kai's scent was usually the smell of an oak tree after the rain, but now it also had the smell of a cherry blossom just like her mother's. _He really loves mother with his heart and soul even after she died..._

Yuuko had learned after spending some time in the wild with the chocobos and others animals that everyone had their own unique scent. Their scent only changed when they mated with someone or when they grew attached to some would-be mate. Kai's changed scent proved to her that it didn't mattered to him whether her mother was alive or dead, he would still love her till the day he died.

'Mother said that you are too quiet and too serious before she died,' Yuuko repeated the last words of her mother, knowing that Kai deserved to know them. 'She said that she don't want to be tied down by you, she wants to free, to be as loud as she wants, to do whatever she wants, but... she knows that you are a good guy. Her very last words were, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to go out with you. I believe she really does love you Kai.'

As sudden as when he grabbed her shoulders, Kai wrapped his arms around her gave her a bear-hug, all the while crying, but those sounds were muffled by her dress. Yuuko smiled sadly as she returned the hug and whispered comforting words to her village's chief, knowing very well that the man needed them just like she did at the cave. Seeing the broken state of Kai made Yuuko more determined to complete her mission to stop this war.

* * *

><p>It was at twilight that Lord Godo gave Yuuko the necessary treaties for the negotiation. The young girl had to change her clothes into Wutai's shinobi uniform, but unlike the usual black and green ones she saw coming and going in the village, hers were in complete black with black armours with markings of the royal emblems, though she kept her black boots on, not liking the sandals they offered. She also left the armours that came with the uniform alone, because they were just a hindrance to her and she needed speed and agility in this mission more than defence. She left most of her weapon alone, but kept her katana and the other black armguard though, after the burns she had suffered last time, she wouldn't want someone to cripple her dominant arm.<p>

From what they showed her on the map of Wutai, there were in total twelve small camps stationed a few miles before the main base, forming a half moon shape directed to the north. ShinRa's men were smart enough to place dozen packs of Guard Hounds that served as an alarm system and their primary defence for them so that they have enough time to react to a surprised attack.

Well she could always try to _negotiate_ with the Guard Hounds if they would kindly let her through, if not, then she would just have to use the way her mother dealt with things, show'em-whose-the-boss style.

Luckily for her, one of the chocobo from the pack who helped them carry their packages had stayed behind to wait for her, but had all along remained hidden in the forest, so she didn't need to start wasting her energy already to reach the camps.

Yuuko was carefully checking her equipments while the wild chocobo was scratching the ground nervously, not used of being close to a civilization bigger than the small village. Some of the Wutai soldiers were very kind to her and gave her some potions, ethers and foods for the journey. After she had studied and identified what materias she had obtained from Chiori-san, she decided to put Restore and Barrier into her armguard for healing and defensive purpose and Thunder and Time was slotted into her katana. She was a bit surprised when she found out that the materia she had used to cast the tornado was actually a Contain and the spell she had cast was a level 3 spell, go figured.

'Yuuko?' Kai called out.

'What?' the temporary messenger of Wutai replied as she double checked everything she had packed before she jumped onto her chocobo's back.

'Be careful out there and be safe,' Kai said as he grabbed her hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

Yuuko looked down at the man who seemed to have decided to consider her as his own daughter and smiled, putting her other hand over his and said in comforting tone, 'Don't worry, I'll be back before you know.'

Kai reluctantly let go of her, Yuuko continued to smile at him before she turned to her ride, whispering softly. 'Let's go boy, we have a long way to go from here.'

At that, the wild chocobo dashed towards the dark forest that loomed before them, leaving a cloud of dirt in the air before they were out of sight. Yuuko knew that it might take sometime to come back here or she might not even had the chance come back alive if those men in army were as ruthless as that cocky bastard she had killed, but she wouldn't allow herself to be killed, because she must make sure that this war ended for good and dying was not an option she was allowed to take.

Her friendly chocobo was quite fast among its pack, so she was confident that they would arrived at the southern border in a record time. As they rushed passed trees and rocks alike, Yuuko suddenly heard the Voices, unlike the ones she often heard that was mostly incomprehensible, they said words, but there weren't much better than the usual.

_**Son... Calamity... Danger... WEAPON...**_

_Why can't they ever say something that I could understand?_ Yuuko thought, slightly annoyed, because most of time the things she heard were like pieces of a puzzle and it was really difficult for her to figure out what they were trying to tell her when nothing actually made sense to her.

After three hours of non-stop running, they came to a stop on top of a cliff. Yuuko got off of her chocobo as she stared at the horizon where she could clearly see the alignment of the camps from below and a little further a bigger camp was built. _If I run straight through the camp in the middle from here, I should be able to reach it within two hours._

Yuuko was pulled out of her thoughts when the chocobo gave a soft wark. She turned her head to meet the big blue eyes of the giant bird and smiled gently as she whispered, 'Hey, don't worry big guy. I'll be fine, just stay around here and wait for me, ok?'

The chocobo nodded its head and went back to forest. Yuuko turned and looked down to estimate how far she was from the bottom, which was quite _far_ in her opinion. Still, if she jumped from here, she would save some time and she wouldn't be wasting her energy trying to find a way down. Determined, she took a few steps back before she ran and jumped off the cliff.

Wind was blowing through her hair and buzzing in her ears, but she ignored them and kept her eyes opened. She was getting closer to the ground, but she didn't feel afraid. Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down and become as clear as when it was in daylight before her and spotted a large branch. She extended her hands before her to catch it and performed a Giant Swing and landed on the branch, crouched like a cat.

_Cool._ _Maybe I'm a were-cat than a werewolf._ Yuuko thought when she felt the solid branch under her feet and patted the pouch-like bag on her waist where she kept the treaties, making sure that it was still with her.

Then she jumped from one branch to another like a wild cat of some sort, muttering apologies whenever she disturbed some birds from their needed rest. Yuuko only stopped her tree-jumping when she spotted the Guard Hounds that were patrolling in front of the camp. _Here goes nothing._

The messenger dropped to ground with a quiet thud before she walked towards the first Guard Hound she saw that immediately snarled at her approach. She put up her hands a little and slowly approached it, staring into its eyes as she spoke her words softly, asking it to let her through.

When she was close enough the beast took a few sniffs of her before it lifted its head and gave a howl. At first Yuuko thought it was alerting its companions and ShinRa's men that there was an intruder, but instead, it was calling the others to gather around them. The beast who made the call sat on its hinges like a tamed dog waiting for his master to give him an order.

'Can you and your friends distract them for me to get through?' Yuuko asked nicely at the leader of the pack.

The leading Guard Hound gave a soft growl before it turned around ran towards the camp followed by the other pack members. Yuuko quickly pulled up the black scarf on her neck to cover the lower half of her face when she heard the first human cry coming from the camp. _Now!_

Yuuko was really, _really_ glad that the beasts were kind enough to let her through, because she wouldn't want to be the one who got his face whipped by the whip-like tentacle attached to the base behind the beasts' neck. It was simply chaotic inside the camp base.

She dodged and hid out of the soldiers' sight through the camp until she reached the other side of the enemy's camp. _Stage one; make it through the camp alive, clear._

'A Wutai soldier!' someone shouted, far behind her.

_Stage two; reach the main base alive, begin._ Yuuko thought sarcastically as she began to run towards the camp where this Sephiroth was located, shuffling footsteps coming behind her warned her that she was being chased. _Great. Now I got an unknown number of stalkers._

The messenger quickly jumped into the leafy branch of a tree when the soldiers began to shoot at her. She hopped from one bushy branch to another for cover. The men were too slowed to follow her movements and they ended up wasting their ammos and energies, which gave her some time to put some distance between her and her assailants.

It wasn't long before she finally spotted the light coming from the main base. When she was about to drop down from the tree she was using as a steeping stone, someone threw a fire spell towards her, forcing her to jump into the clear area of the base.

_Stage two complete, but I ended up in a den of monsters._ Yuuko thought as she slowly got up from her crouching position to face the soldiers who quickly surrounded her with their weapons pointed at her.

She calmly put up her hands a little, hoping they would consider her action as harmless, but before she could tell them what business she had to come here, a voice she thought she had gotten rid of back at her village said, 'Well, well. Look at what we have here. A rat came crawling out of her hole.'

'And I thought I have seen the last of _you_ two days ago,' Yuuko replied sarcastically as she watched the bastard she thought she had killed pushed away two of the army grunt to stand before her. Though she smiled behind her scarf when she noticed that the guy didn't survive the incident unscathed, he now had a quite large scar over his right eye and a big burn mark covered his neck. 'Evil really doesn't die that easily does it?'

'You Wutainese think you are so great and us so evil, you are no different from us,' the beastly man remarked, looking as if he was ready to kill her at any given second, he probably was.

'I don't consider myself or my people great, but _you_ are evil. You and I have nothing similar to the beginning with,' Yuuko said those words in a dangerous tone.

Her words seemed to be the last straw and the bastard threw a fireball at her with a snarl, but before she could activate her Barrier, a barrier was already formed between them, shielding her from the flame. Surprised everyone looked around to see who cast the barrier before their eyes landed on one particular individual.

Yuuko was not as shocked as everyone was when they saw who just saved her life, not that she needed to be saved. She could easily handle it herself. The man wore a black leather coat with the top of his black uniform split to reveal his chest that was covered by crossing leather straps, completed silver white pauldrons on his shoulders, black clothing and boots. He might look intimidating with his green cat-like, much to her surprise to find someone else with the same trait that she had, and his waist-length silver hair that seemed to move around him, making him looked like some sort of viper that were ready to strike at any given moment, but Yuuko was pretty sure that he was around her age despite the fact that his appearance gave her the impression that he was older than she was.

'What happened?' the silver haired man demanded coldly.

Seeing that everyone was more busy in trembling in fear than trying to form a answer, Yuuko decided to take the lead, not liking how slowed the males' brain were working. 'I am a messenger of Wutai. I come to deliver a message written by Lord Godo himself to leader of this base Lord Sephiroth. Can you tell me where he is?'

The silver haired man tilted his head to the side a bit, but the Wutainese doubted that the change was very noticeable to anybody, unless they squinted very hard in a very short amount of time. His eyes seemed to dance with amusement and a little bit of confusion, she wasn't sure if they were there since they kind of disappear in a flash.

The soldier who had burned her village scoffed at her words as he said, 'A messenger who doesn't even know what the person who she should deliver the message to looks like. You Wutaineses are pathetic.'

'First, I don't recall asking your opinion,' Yuuko replied, her hands twitched ever slightly, hoping she could just kill the bastard and be done with it once and for all. 'Second, I'm a messenger and the exact definition of this word is I simply _deliver_ the message and I don't _care_ if the guy who receives the message was a king, a noble or whoever the hell he is, and even less how he looks like.'

Everyone was gapping at her like fishes now, they had long forgotten that they should be pointing their weapons at her, not that she really cared. It was not like her words were insulting, in her opinion, she was just being blunt and direct, that was all. Also, she valued honesty above all. Being honest herself made others being honest to her.

The silver-haired man flashed at her a barely noticeable smile before he told her to follow him, which she did gladly, not wanting to be anywhere near that despicable racist bastard who wanted nothing more than murdered her.

Yuuko knew that she should be more cautious and she shouldn't follow someone who she barely knew in the enemy's territory, but the man himself didn't feel, well, _evil_. In fact, from what she could smell through the fabric covering her nose, he didn't have any sort of bad scent that gave her the warning bells, it was quite the opposite, his smell was like the north wind that blew during autumn and it was smoothing her, but she could smell some sort of bitterness underneath his scent, a smell of great sadness and self-loathing. _Ah, a child who is force to grow up faster than the others does and is chain down by those who exploit his weakness when he was still young. I wonder how long he had worn those chains._

A long time was the only answer her conscious could provide, since the bitterness of the smell was mild, but it still lingered like the blood stain on one's hands, no matter how hard you washed them, they would always stayed on their hand. Yuuko felt nausea at the thought of what ShinRa did to this man to make him who he is today. Did all soldiers who signed into the army suffered physical and mental pain greatly? Was because they had long forgotten what it was like a normal life without war or battles? Or was that the reason why some of them developed a powerful bloodlust in battle? Whatever the reason was, she doubted the bastard she had scarred was a good man before he signed up for the army.

Yuuko shook out of her thoughts when they entered a large tent, there were two men in a black sleeveless uniform that was similar to the one that the racist wore, with only the color that was different. The two men gave a respectful nod to the silver-haired man before they leave the tent.

'Do I have to wait here for this Sephiroth?' Yuuko asked as she took the seat that the kind soldier had indicated with his hand.

'He is already in front of you,' the silver-haired soldier replied with a teasing smirk.

'Huh?' the Wutainese said as she tilted her head to side, but things started to clip together in her mind. 'Oh, I see. I apologized for my _rudeness_, sir.'

Sephiroth chuckled softly before he said, 'Don't worry about it. It was rather refreshing to witness how a person who didn't know me as General Sephiroth would react, though I am more surprised that Lord Godo would sent a messenger who didn't know how I look like.'

'Well, yours and your men's reputation precedes you. No one was courageous enough to approach any of your camps,' Yuuko answered honestly, not knowing that she was actually talking to one of the most deadly and most powerful men on Gaia. 'Though beside your Guard Hounds who could be a little difficult to take care of, unless you know manners, I don't exactly see what they really have to fear to come here. As for why I don't know how you look like, well news traveled rather slowly in my village, either that or I simply didn't pay much attention to them.'

The young messenger simply babbled on without noticing the intrigue lighted in the man's cat-like eyes. Not really believing that she was capable to get passed all those lines of defences they had set up as if it was nothing, but a bothersome feat. He took some time to study her closely, only to find his attention drawn to her golden eyes that were quite similar to his.

'Your eyes?' Spehiroth interrupted lightly.

'What about them?' It took Yuuko a second to realize what he meant. 'Oh, you mean why they look like the ones of a cat just like yours huh? Well, I was born with them. I am surprised myself to see that another person had this unique trait too.'

Coincidence? Well sure, why not? After all, she had spent the conscious part of her life in a village that had the same old things that must be repeated each day. There must plenty of other people out there that had this type of eyes. Oh, she did not know how wrong she was about this.

'Indeed.' That was the simple reply she got from the leader of this army. 'You have also mentioned a message from Lord Godo.'

_Oh yeah._ Yuuko carefully pulled out the treaties Lord Godo had prepared and handed them to Sephiroth as she explained seriously, 'Lord Godo will like to end this war through a peace treaty. These are the treaties written and signed by Lord Godo himself.'

The pupil in Sephiroth's eyes had only expanded a fraction to show his surprise as he took the treaties from the messenger's gloved hands, noticing how small they were compared to his. 'Lord Godo did not seem to be a man who can persuade easily with just a few simple words, I suppose there must a reason behind this sudden change of mind.'

'Not really. He just needs someone to throw reality into his face,' Yuuko answered as she leaned back on her chair.

'So I assume you were the reason behind this change,' Sephiroth stated.

'A little bit, yes,' was Yuuko's answer.

Sephiroth's tiny smile failed to hide his amusement and astonishment of how the situation of the war had been changed by one simple clueless girl. Though the official matters aside, he really wanted to know who was this girl and did the village she lived in had more people like them with cat-like eyes? Could his mother have lived in that village before she died giving birth to him? He had so many questions and the girl might hold all the answers he sought.

'You mention news travel very slow in your village, where is it located?' Sephiroth carefully chose his words so it wouldn't arose any suspicions, but he knew would have thought that his words brought her pain.

Yuuko averted his eyes when he asked her about the village and kept staring down at her gloves as if they were most interesting things in the world. 'It used to be between the northern borderline and the ocean.'

'Used to?'

The Wutainese calmly exhaled a shaky breath before she explained, 'We often hunt, fish and gather grains as a living in our village, some do pearl-diving too. Life was a usual routine for us, until your men came. At first, it was only a small group of soldiers armed with guns, me, Kai he is our village chief and... my mother easily beat them, but we're worry that more will come, so we decide to move everyone to the city where's safe. We separated into two groups, one moves ahead first and the other follow, but we didn't expect that another group of soldiers would come so quickly...'

Flashes of the fire burning her home erupted in Yuuko's vision, but she quickly suppressed them, not wanting to show any kind of weaknesses in front of the ShinRa's General. 'They trapped the rest of the villagers inside a house and burned it... They burned the whole village to the ground. My mother was tortured by them until I came and stop them. I tried to get her back to our group, but she was too wounded and she eventually died before we could reach them...'

Sephiroth was not pleased of what he had heard, for he had only sent a group of infantrymen and SOLDIERs to the northern borders to see if it was possible to place a base there. The only SOLDIER, who had returned, a Second Class named Adrian Hunt, reported that he and his men were ambushed by Wutai Ninjas. Testing her to see if she was trustworthy or not, he told her what the sole survivor group had reported word to word.

He watched as her eyes dilated to resemble the ones of a striking viper before she said in a voice so soft that his enhanced hearing barely caught it. 'I am going to kill that lying bastard.'

Her body language already told him what he needed. Sephiroth was now sure that this girl was being honest to him all along and she was a trustworthy person. Hunt was being dishonourable and he disobeyed his orders to just observe and plan for a future base in the northern borders. He would have to take care of this pest later.

'I apologize for what happened to your village. I really hope that I could make amend for that,' Sephiroth said softly, but he could hear that his words sounded like something he heard coming from one of the routine text message from Director Lazard. Sometimes, he really wished he knew more what he should say and do in these moments which required delicate words that expressed from the heart as Angeal often told him.

Yuuko's eyebrow twitched a bit at his words, his word held no emotion of whatsoever. She was about to whiplash the man with a few sharp words, but a strange fragrance caught her attention and quickly realized it was coming from the silver-haired General. The smell gave her a feeling of kind of awkwardness, like when she wasn't sure if she had said the right thing to a kid who got hurt. _Oh, I get it. He doesn't how to express himself..._

Yuuko felt a little tired right now, her anger being pumped and deflated like a balloon from time and time again was weakening her more than when she ran with the chocobos for two day straight. She let out a tired sigh before she said, 'You don't need to apologize, Sephiroth-san. This is war, I know that are many things we can't really control, so it's alright. I understand.'

'There are simply things, which you can never make amend of and this is one of them,' Yuuko spoke softly, like a mother trying to tell a child a moral he was still too young to understand. 'You can never make amend with the dead, for they are dead. No rivers or streams will reverse its flow, leafs that had fallen will never reattach to their branch. Things that have passed will just become memories. They are untouchable and unchangeable.'

An uncomfortable silence fell between them, both lost in their own painful memories that consumed them. Sephiroth quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he pulled out one of the papers that agreed a ceasefire, since he couldn't actually accept the treaties without the agreement from the board of directors and the President.

'I can not tell you if ShinRa will accept the peace treaty or not, but I will put up a ceasefire for now and the one who was responsible to the destruction of your village will face consequences,' Sephiroth said calmly as he signed the papers and handed them to her. 'I will discuss the conditions with Lord Godo himself after the President agrees to the treaties you brought.'

Yuuko simply bowed her head in respect, with the papers in her hands, before she stood up to leave. Though before she left, she turned to face this man unusual man, who held a kindness that he kept hidden behind a cold façade, and asked, 'I forgot to tell my name, did I?'

The General smiled gently as he replied, 'You don't need to tell me, if you don't want to.'

'Then I'll just give you the head start. It starts with a "Y".'

'Your first or last name?'

'I don't have a last name to begin with,' Yuuko replied sadly before she left for good with the treaties safely in her bag.

* * *

><p><strong>This is probably the longest chapter I have written so far, but I have kind of wish it would be longer. Oh Well.<strong>

**I will like to thank DarkBombayAngel and Silent Sacrifice for their constant support and review to my stories.**

**I hope everyone wasn't too disappointed with the story so far and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters, they are rightfully belong to Square-Enix. Only Yuuko was a character of my creation. Enjoy the story.**

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><p>A Journey of Discoveries<p>

It was nostalgic to be back at her destroyed hometown for staying at the capital city for five long months. Yuuko was glad that everything had finally settled down and the war had ended. Of course, there were a certain amount of conditions placed on them like disarmament and a garrison was stationed on Wutai for a time, but they were still allowed of self-governance, only now they got to pay these _taxes_ to ShinRa. It could have been worse than them paying small fees to enemy each month.

Everyone was readied to rebuild everything and restart their old life, everyone but Yuuko. She simply couldn't find her reason to stay in the village, where the memories of that night still haunted her.

That was the reason why she stood at the small port on the shore, preparing the junk, a small ship that her mother used to go out to the sea for fishing and pearl-diving. There weren't many things she needed to pack, since she already had most of her belongings with her, all that was left to pack was some provisions for the long journey ahead.

'Leaving without saying goodbye?' someone asked. Yuuko looked up in surprise to see Kai, Chiori-san and the rest of the villagers, along with the wild chocobo pack.

The scene had rendered her speechless. Yuuko had planned to just leave without much of a word or a note, not wanting Kai to go psycho-mother-hen on her and she didn't want to say goodbye to everyone, so she really wasn't expecting all these people to come and say goodbye to her. 'How did you?'

One the chocobo, which she recognized as the one who had journeyed with her to the south, stood out and warked proudly, Kai chuckled lightly as he explained, 'This guy here had been tracing your scent, I caught him going to the port and saw that you were packing up, so I decided to call everyone here.'

Unbelievable. 'I am sorry everyone if I... well... _tried_ to leave without saying goodbye, I'm really not good at that,' Yuuko started lamely, not sure how to continue her speech.

Though she didn't need to when some of the children went to hug her, crying and asking her not to leave. Yuuko smiled sadly at the children as she rubbed their head gently, hoping there were easy ways to make them understand that there was nothing left for her in the village and the nightmares just wouldn't leave her alone.

Some of the grandparents were crying too, but they still kept their smile on as they carefully pried their grandchildren's fingers off of her. Chiori-san stepped up to her with a sad smile as she gave a small silk pouch with a rather large amount of gil inside and said, 'Take this. It is a gift from all of us. So that if you ever feel like you are alone and you didn't have a place where you belong, you will always have this pouch to remind you that we are all here and this place will remain your home. Matters not if it was burn down or renew, it will forever exist in your heart.'

Yuuko bowed at them respectfully, clutching the present tightly in her hand, then she turned her attention to Kai who wore a tired expression. The man who had been a father-of-sort to her for the passed months looked at her nostalgically. The situation probably reminded him of her mother who was always a step or two away from his grasp.

Kai didn't spoke a word as he approached her, taking out a necklace from his pocket and placed it around her neck. Yuuko looked down at the pendant of her necklace which was a round pale blue gem-like stone, she looked at Kai in shock, barely believing the gift she was given was real, as she whispered, 'A Leviathan's Scale?'

A Leviathan Scale was a stone that was said to have the power to douse the most powerful flames ever existed and that whoever wore them would have the blessing and the protection of Leviathan. It was so rare that it was considered as legendary item in Wutai.

'I wanted to propose to your mother with it, but... I lost my chance...' Kai explained as he put his hands on her shoulders. 'I know that she would have wanted you to have it. She might not be with us anymore, but she will remain in our heart. Things we kept in our heart can never be destroyed, no matter what trick or spell place on us. They are indestructible Yuuko, remember that.'

A few tears slipped out of her eyes, but Yuuko didn't care about them as she hugged Kai with the same affection she had to her deceased mother before she pulled away and said, 'Thank you, father...'

Kai nodded his head, barely holding his own tears, and stepped back. The chocobo who had been her most loyal steed came forward and nudged her with its beak before it pointed the junk.

'You want to come with me?' Yuuko asked incredulously. An eager wark was her answer. Seeing that she did have much a choice, unless she wanted lose her long hair, she accepted. 'You better be prepared to get sea sick in this trip, because we probably won't reach the Western Continent till tomorrow at dawn.'

Yuuko was glad that the ship held their weight when the chocobo got on with her. The yellow bird quickly sat down, not liking the unsteady shift under its feet. The Wutainese shook her head lightly as she rubbed its feathery head and said, 'It won't be very bad after awhile, Koro. I'll just call you Koro from now on ok?'

Yuuko swore she saw the giant bird smiling at her as it nodded his head. The young girl looked at her animal friends and adopted family of sort with a smile before she untied the rope that was still attached a wooden beam. The junk slowly drifted further and further away from the waving group who shouted their farewell. Yuuko continued to wave at them until they were so far that she couldn't see them clearly anymore, and then she let down the square sails and started her journey towards the unknown.

* * *

><p>If Yuuko was being honest to herself, traveling by sea was the easiest part of her journey. She and Koro had made to the shore of the Western Continent safely, but they were very far from any kind of civilization. The terminology for their current situation was they were simply and utterly <em>lost<em>.

Fortunately for them or for Yuuko precisely, the Voices hadn't abandoned her and were guiding her and Koro. They directed them to a mountain path where they had encountered some small monsters, but nothing the young lady couldn't handle. They only rested when Yuuko didn't receive anymore instructions from the Voices.

After a day and a half, they finally spotted some signs of civilization. Koro warked happily, seeing that the town was almost as small as Yuuko's village. They quietly made their way into the town where some people started to whisper to each other silently, but Yuuko could hear them clearly. One person out of the group caught her attention as she dismounted her ride and called out, 'Master Zangan?'

The old martial artist remained the same as ever, the grey beard and hair shone dully under the sun and his hands were covered by the same fingerless gloves she and her mother had to repair time to time during his stay.

'Yuuko? It is you Yuuko!' master Zangan exclaimed when he was close enough and hugged her like a grandfather did when they were visited by their grandchildren.

'It's been a while master Zangan,' Yuuko replied as she pulled away from the hug and let the man studied her.

'You have grown up quite a bit my dear. You looked almost like your mother,' the martial artist complimented happily, but when he noticed the dark look on her face, his smile was completely wiped away. 'What's wrong? Did something happen?'

'Mother is gone.' A simple statement. Nothing more, nothing less and to the point.

'Come with me,' Zangan simply said as he lead her to the inn with Koro following them, but the chocobo was forced to stay outside by the owner, saying that he did not want a big bird in his inn. So Koro settled to stare at them through the window.

Zangan slid a plate of hot stew on the table they sat and Yuuko muttered a small thank before she eat her soup sophisticatedly, for some reason, she couldn't seem to eat like a boar even if she tried. It was like the table manners were drilled into her skull long before she remembered. Her mother once joked that she might be from a royal bloodline.

'Do you want to tell me what happened?' the old man asked after half of the plate was emptied.

Yuuko put the spoon down, memories and nightmares blended in her mind, as she told Zangan what happened to her mother, the village and Wutai during the war. His shock expression when she told him how she had confronted Lord Godo and Sephiroth was priceless and it helped her kept her emotions from overflowing.

'So you left the village afterwards huh? What do you intend to do now?' Zangan asked kindly and took a small piece of bread.

'Truthfully I don't really where I will go or what I will do. I never really thought about it. I just don't want to stay in the village anymore,' Yuuko explained. It was part of the truth, she really didn't think passed what she would do and where she would go after she left the village, she simply listened to the Voices and let them guide her.

'Well you can stay with me in this inn until you figure out what you will do next. It's great to have someone who was lively, but who can control it at a certain limit-'

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a little brunette in a blue robe who called out to master Zangan, 'Zangan! When are you going to start training with me?'

The child's scent was rather overwhelming in Yuuko's opinion. The scent practically mirrored the child's eagerness, like it needed to advertise itself in front of everybody. It was not a bad thing, but Yuuko knew that over-eagerness would lead this girl to a painful fall should things ever went bad.

'Who's she?' the brunette asked when she was next to them pointing at Yuuko.

'Tifa, this is Yuuko. She is one of my greatest pupils in Wutai. Yuuko, this is Tifa, she is the Mayor's daughter and my newest student,' Zangan presented them.

'But I'm going to be your greatest and strongest student!' Tifa whined, as if the title of being the best pupil of Zangan belonged to her alone. 'I have already mastered all the basic moves and a few of the advances ones you taught me.'

'How long have you been teaching her?' Yuuko asked her ex-teacher, slightly disturbed by the way Tifa was glaring at her as she had stolen something.

'I have been teaching for about two years and a half now. Not long after I left the village.'

_Before the War huh?_ This girl should be rather skilful, since it took the other students at least three months to completely master all the basic moves. Yuuko had learned the basics and the advances at the same time and had produced a few special moves of her own, but it did not change her preference over swordsmanship and archery. If Tifa was learning almost as fast as she did, then it would be a matter of time before she reached the same level as she was right now and maybe eventually, surpassed her in martial art.

Leaving Zangan taking care of his whining student, Yuuko got out of the inn with the rest of her meal and gave them to Koro, who eagerly dig in. While she rubbed the feathers of the giant bird, she noticed they were being observed by a little boy hiding behind the boxes stocked up near the water tower.

'You know, Koro doesn't bite,' Yuuko started kindly as she turned her attention to the surprised child who poked out from behind the boxes, the blond-haired boy was still weary to come closer. 'It's alright. Koro only pecks those who pick on him.'

Yuuko slowly steeped back a bit as the boy came closer and studied the chocobo. Both the child and the bird blinked owlishly at each other before Koro crept closer to the little boy and gently nudged him in chest.

'I think Koro like you,' Yuuko stated as she watched the chocobo ruffled the child's hair with its beak, it probably found it very similar to the new-born chocobos she once saw while playing with the pack a few months after their mating season.

The boy laughed as he slowly built up his courage and rubbed the feathers of the giant chocobo who cooed under the action, then the Wutainese decided to introduce herself, 'My name is Yuuko and this big fellow friend of mine is Koro, what's your name?'

The blond looked down at his feet for a moment before he mumbled, 'Cloud Strife.'

'Cloud Strife, sounds like strong name,' Yuuko remarked, though she was more attentive to something else. There was something about this child that seemed different, like he had something special within him. His scent was as fresh as a day when autumn turned into winter, but she could smell nothing wrong with his scent. It was more like a feeling coming from him, a feeling of great strength and power. Only that the boy didn't look like he had any prior training with any sort weapon, seeing that his hands were still the ones of a child.

'You think so?' Cloud asked her as if doubting her words. 'I think it's a weak name.'

Yuuko could practically smelled the low self-esteemed of this boy and it was sad to see this child who seemed to have the power to make a difference, kept it all locked up because he couldn't see the potentials in him and trying to obtain a power beyond his own to achieve some sort of acknowledgement from others.

'You know my mother once told what my name meant and I, like you, found it weak too,' Yuuko said gently as she knelt down so that Cloud wouldn't feel like she was lecturing on him, but more like a friend trying to help him. 'My name meant the mysterious child, because she knew nothing about me when she found in the sea. Even though my name was not an extraordinary name, I made a difference for it and it became a name that was known to everybody in the village.'

'How?' Cloud asked, now paying all his attention on her.

'I didn't let anyone think I am weak because of who I am, an orphaned child who was adopted. I learned everything I can from the people and put all my effort to help them. And before I know it, I become stronger and smarter, but I did not belittle others after I have gain my strength through the hardship. Instead, I double my efforts to help them and they helped me in return,' Yuuko said as she placed a hand on the small boy's shoulder. 'My strength comes from many people, not just myself. If you think that becoming a powerful person made people acknowledge you, it's wrong. That's not the right way to use your power.

'You may think physical strength and power showed everyone that you are great, but what you show them only belittles them and makes them fear you. Strength is something akin to fire, it can bring warmth to people, but it could also be used to hurt them. So you have to learn and seek out the best way to utilize your power and not show them off. Remember that Cloud.'

The youth nodded his head, eyes flaming with a new form of determination and there was something similar to admiration too, but before Yuuko studied it further someone came calling Cloud's name. Both of them looked up to see a woman with blond hair tied into a bun looking at them, concern and worry written all over her face.

'I'm sorry miss, was Cloud bothering you? If he is, I apologize,' Cloud's mother immediately said.

Yuuko smiled gently at the distressed woman as she replied, 'No ma'am, Cloud was not bothering me. In fact, we were having a very interesting conversation.' The blonde woman relaxed considerably at her words. 'I hope I'll be able to speak with your son again.'

'Uh, yes of course. Come now Cloud,' Mrs. Strife ushered her son who wave his goodbye as they made their way back to their house.

Yuuko smiled sadly as they watched them leave. The mother and son reminded her of her and her mother when she had just entered the village's life, she was curious of everything new and old just like Cloud was.

_A life I'll never get back._ Yuuko thought as she let herself be trapped inside her memories once more, but she was quickly snapped out it by a sound. A familiar cry she had heard once a while since she woke up five years ago and it was close. She strained her ears to locate where the cry came from and noticed that not far from the town, there was a large building hidden by the pale mist of the mountain. _What's that?_

'That is the Abandoned Mansion,' someone answered as if he had read her mind. Yuuko looked over her shoulder to see Zangan coming towards her. 'It used to be a mansion belonged to ShinRa, but they had left it as it is around forty years ago. A lot of rumours surround that place, saying that a haunting spirit was living inside the mansion looking for anybody who dares intrude its territory. Nasty monsters roamed among the old rooms too. It's dangerous.'

_A spirit? Was that what had been making that cry all along?_ Yuuko thought and made up her mind to explore this unusual place and discover if the cry she had heard for so long came truly from a vengeful ghost or not.

'I know what you are thinking Yuuko and I won't stop you, but you better be careful in there, that place holds something that makes anyone uneasy. So I suggest you don't enter it in broad daylight. Some people here could spread some very nasty rumours if they want to. It took a lot of time for the Strife to get rid of them.'

'Strife? You mean Cloud's family?' Yuuko asked, curious and a little angry at the people who spoke some nasty comments about them when both mother and son were simple and normal persons.

'So you have met them already.'

'I spoke to Cloud a little bit. Good kid, but low self-confidence.'

'You saw something interesting in him?' Zangan asked, seemingly interested to what attract Yuuko to the young Strife.

'He has potentials, he just did not realize it yet,' Yuuko explained as she wondered if she should teach the boy herself or tried to convince Zangan to do it. Of course the final decision was rested on Cloud.

'I think he prefers sword than his fists as a weapon. He showed little interest in hand-to-hand fighting when I start to teach Tifa and some kids the basic moves. I often saw him picked up a stick and started swing it like someone does with a sword. Though I am not sure if he is interested in being an apprentice, since he hardly shows any interest in anything,' Zangan told her.

'Well then, I'll just have to make things interesting for him, don't I?' Yuuko said confidently as she got back inside the inn with Zangan. She was already planning on how she would infiltrate the mansion and the training regiment of Cloud. This boring and gossiping town had already two things that caught her immediate attention, maybe staying here a little while longer wouldn't be so bad... but first she had to find a place for Koro, seeing that the owner of the inn was yelling hysterically and was practically pulling his hair off of his head when the giant bird tried to enter his inn again.

* * *

><p>Yuuko quietly left the inn, careful on not alerting anybody. She moved among the shadows like the shinobis in Wutai did until she finally reached the gate of the old mansion. The metal bars of the gate were rusty and made a loud creaking noise even when she pushed them opened gently, but that was not what unnerved her the most, it was the whole place.<p>

When she stepped into the large abandoned building, the smell of death and decay filled her sense causing her to gag. No wonder people steered clear from this place, the scent and the feeling of Death lingered heavily in here. It was like corpses had been left in this place for a very long time before they were finally reabsorbed into the Planet's Lifestream.

_Huh? Where the hell the Lifestream idea comes from?_ Yuuko thought worriedly. Sure she had heard from Chiori-san things about the Lifestream and all, but she never understood why it felt so important and why it was something real and not a legend like most people believed. It was like her _duty_ to remember and remind others of the existence of the Lifestream.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the loud creak of the gate, alerting her someone was coming, she quickly hid behind the door and posed ready to knock anybody who came unconscious. When the stranger came she was already on to him, but she held her strike back when she realized that the person was a kid, a kid with blond chocobo-like hair from what little light the night sky could offered.

'Cloud?! What are you doing here?' Yuuko whispered a little harshly, knowing full well that if she hadn't held back her strike, the kid would be unconscious for days and with more than a simple bruise on him.

'Well I saw you coming here, so I followed you. Besides I have always been curious about this place, but mother and others always told me to stay away from the mansion,' Cloud explained sheepishly, slightly embarrassed, from where he had fell on the floor.

'Curiosity kills the cat, but a cat has nine lives, so I guess it's alright,' Yuuko muttered as she helped the boy get up. 'Still, stay close to me, you almost lost one life back there, I don't want you to lose all nine lives in one night.'

Yuuko took two candles she had in her bag and lighted them with a small fire spell, they carefully moved around with their own candle in the foyer where yellowed papers were scattered on the floor. Curious, she bent down and took one of the papers that started: **'I must get rid of all those that stand in the way of my research. Even that one from the Turks. I scientifically altered him, and put him to sleep in the basement. If you want to find him then search the area. But... this is merely a game I thought of. It is not necessary for you to participate if you don't want to.'**

Yuuko was disgusted by the way this person had written this letter, talking about the person he had imprisoned like he was nothing than a guinea pig for him to test on. _Maybe the cry comes from this person._ That thought did not made Yuuko feel any better at the thought of how strong the cry was to reach all the way from here to Wutai.

Cloud, who was reading the letter with, asked what the content of the letter meant. The Wutainese studied the boy for a moment before she asked, 'You can read, can you?'

'A little bit. I learned only from what little texts and thin books my mother had and she was only able to teach me the basics. Some words in the letter are a little too big for me to understand,' Cloud replied, ashamed of his illiterate problem.

Yuuko smiled sadly at the boy's explanation. Her mother taught her how to read and talk in Wutainese and Western, she had brought old books from shop for her to read so she could slowly improve and she did. The Wutainese sighed inwardly as she added another subject she would need to teach Cloud if the boy ever chose to accept the mentorship she offered.

After reading the other side of the letter which contained the instructions on how to reach the prisoner and where the dial of the safe which contained the key for the basement was located. They split up to locate each dial before they rejoined each other at the second floor in the room where the safe was. Yuuko was surprised to find a red materia inside the safe with the key.

The Wutainese took out the red orb and studied it. The feeling of the power reside inside the crystal was different from the other materias she had, like they belonged to another realm. She put it in one of the free slots of her armguard and took out the key. While she was busy cleaning up the inside of the safe to see if there was something important or useful, Cloud was trying to find the secret switch of the hidden door.

It wasn't long before Cloud found the switch and opened the hidden path. Yuuko gagged at the unbearable rotting smell coming from the door, she really started to question the sanity of the last owner of the mansion. _Did he leave half a dozen corps in each room or what?_

The smell was already bad enough, but with the damp wooden steps and the moistness of the air, Yuuko started to half regret to ever come here. Though she was still determined to find out if the cry she had heard was indeed coming from the prisoner in the basement. She and Cloud took careful steps as began their slow descend to the lower level of the mansion with bats and rats running from them and the sudden brightness they brought to their dark home.

It was really hard to guess which room was for the prison, seeing that there was only one door that had dozen chains around it with a huge lock in the middle. Yuuko felt uneasy as she inserted the key into the lock, something was not right. It was... quiet...

'What's wrong?' Cloud asked her worriedly, not knowing what made her pause.

'It's nothing,' Yuuko tried to say encouragingly as she unlocked the lock, the chains fell with a dozen of loud clinks and thuds. Both of them gulped nervously as they pushed opened the door that revealed to them a room filled with dirty coffins. That was enough proof for her to conclude and officially announce that the last owner of this place was by no doubt a madman. WHO THE HELL IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BUILT A GODAMN CRYPT IN THEIR BASEMENT?

'Uh... Ladies first?' Cloud said tentatively as they stood outside the room, not daring to intrude Death's sanctuary.

'Let just take the first step together ok?' Yuuko said with a forced smile, not liking the idea to enter a room filled with the dead anymore than Cloud did.

They noticed that most of the coffins were opened, showing their brown-coloured skeleton, others were bolted tight by nails, but only one remained closed and didn't have any sort of nails on it. This particular coffin seemed to be made of stone with a cross-like symbol on it and was placed in the middle of the room.

Yuuko and Cloud stared at the stone casket for a long silent moment before Yuuko shook off her fear and approached the coffin. She handed her own candle to Cloud, placing both hands on the lid, counting from ten to one in a small whisper before she pushed the lid off in one shove.

A loud bang rang in the room when the heavy lid came in contact with the ground, both trespassers jumped back in surprised. Cloud quickly ran behind Yuuko who took a protective stance, hiding the youngster behind her as best as she could. Both had kind of expected a ghost or a zombie or anything that was Death's allies jumped on them when they opened the coffin, but things stayed stilled.

Or so they thought when they took noticed of the ruby red eyes that were staring at them. Yuuko slowly placed her hand on her sheathed katana, prepared to draw it if the person wished them harm. Though part of her hesitated, because the man gave off a dangerous aura yet his eyes showed no hate behind them, only regret. Suddenly the Voices were screaming at her rather loudly and were giving her a large migraine, her grip on the handle of her weapon slackened as her free hand went to press against her temple. _Damn. The Voices were never that loud._

A small tug on her clothes reminded Yuuko that Cloud was with her, so she tried to keep the pain at bay and concentrated on the stranger who sat up in his coffin, his crimsoned eyes not leaving them. The man who looked around 27-year-old wore some kind of dark leather body armour, a tattered red cape over his shoulders and hid the lower part of his face, it was held in place with several buckles, his left arm was covered by golden gauntlet with sharp pointed fingertips, his pointed metallic boots seemed to be made of the same materials as his gauntlet and a holster for a gun was against his right led.

The man might be a complete stranger to her, but something about the aura that surrounded him seemed... familiar to her like she had seen it before somewhere. In fact, this man was like Cloud in a certain way, a power was rested within them, but unlike Cloud who didn't realized its existence because of the lack of self-confidence, this man knew the power he held and was keeping a tight leash on it, like he was deeply afraid of it being unleashed.

'Who are you?' the man asked in a low dark voice. 'And what do you want?'

'My name is Yuuko, this is Cloud.' She made a small gesture on her left side, where a pair cerulean eyes were watching the stranger wearily behind the Wutainese. 'We were exploring this mansion and found a later saying that someone was trapped in here so we came to check.'

'Leave me. I don't deserve to be forgiven for the sins I committed,' the stranger replied as he laid back inside the casket just as the stone lid flew over to the coffin and replaced itself back to its former position like nothing had disturbed it.

Yuuko really had nothing to say, or to be more precisely, she was too occupied in her thoughts to voice what she thought out loud. How in the name of Gaia could someone accepted to sleep inside a coffin and said that he did not want to leave even when freedom stood before him because of some sins?

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the insisting tugs from Cloud who asked if they could leave and just come back another time. Now that her attention was back to the child, she saw the tiredness behind those eyes. Seeing that if she tried to convince this man it would take a long while, she decided to leave him for now. After all, she and Cloud needed their beauty sleep too.

Both of them quietly sneaked back into their room, pondering on the events that had occurred in the mansion for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p><strong>I was having difficulties to concentrate on the other stories with my life turning upside down because of what I have to choose to study, so I apologize for those who were waiting for the update of "A Girl or a Boy?" and "The Night Saga - The End". I will update them as soon as I sort out everything in my miserable reality of my life. So please review as always.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters, they belong rightfully to Square Enix, only Yuuko is a character of my own unique creation. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>A Moment of Weakness and Acceptance<p>

It wasn't until two days after visiting the mansion did Yuuko had the opportunity to speak with Cloud alone. The blond-haired boy was running and hiding from his bullies for the past two days. Yuuko finally understood where his lack of confidence came from, when she had heard some of the nasty remark from the kids belittling Cloud about his father.

'I think it's none of any of your business about someone else's parent,' she said in a strict tone, staring down at the bullies with a dark look which told them that she was not pleased and they better steered clear as in right now. The kids gulped uneasily before they ran away. Cloud looked ashamed as he was prepared to leave too, but Yuuko caught his arm and asked him to come with her.

Yuuko brought him to the tree near the entrance of the town and sat down, smiling at the view of the outskirt of town, as she said, 'I must say that there is at least a beautiful view here, despite all the bad things there was in this town.'

Seeing Cloud hesitated on where he stood, she patted the small patch of grass next to her, inviting him to come join her. The young boy sat down reluctantly, as if he was intimidated by the older girl's presence.

'You know. I used to be like you, an outsider. I was not really welcomed by others around my age. People found me strange and... different,' Yuuko said as she brushed her eyelids lightly, remembering the early days when the others regarded her strangely because of her abnormal eyes.

'Is it because of your eyes?' Cloud asked shyly as he pulled up his knees and rested his chin on them, keeping his gaze on her. Golden eyes turned to meet with blue ones. The Wutainese could the small understanding in the boy's eyes and nodded her head. 'They must be blind, those people. Your eyes are pretty, like a cat.'

Yuuko giggled softly as she replied, 'Well they are cat-eyes. Me and Koro like your hair.'

Both of them laughed quietly like two old friends, but their laughs were quickly silenced by a loud scream. The two of them quickly jumped up from their position and ran back to the town, wondering what just happened. Cloud and Yuuko spotted a group of people gathering before a house.

'That's Tifa's house!' Cloud exclaimed and rushed towards the group with Yuuko behind him. He tried to see what was going, but with his small height it was impossible for him to even see a thing except the legs of the adults. Yuuko, seeing the anxious and worry look on the boy's face, decided to give him a little boost. She took him up and placed him on her shoulder so that he got a better view of things.

The blond thanked the teenage adult as he went to watch what happened, though when he saw made him wished he didn't get a boost from Yuuko. Seeing the pale body of Tifa's mother lying in front of the door with Tifa crying and shaking the lifeless body made Cloud felt like someone had made him swallowed something very nasty.

The Wutainese, feeling the boy on her shoulder quivering, quickly put him back down to see what was wrong with the child, but she got a hint of what it might be from the scent of fear clung on the boy, whatever he saw was not a pretty sight. She gently rubbed the boy's shoulder and held his hand as she lead him away from the crowd and headed towards his house, hoping her gesture helped comfort the boy and that whatever he had witnessed wouldn't haunt him in his dream tonight.

When they reached the house, Mrs. Strife was already there waiting for them, she quickly ushered them inside. Yuuko could still feel Cloud trembling as they sat down, the boy's grip on her hand was firm as if he was determined to hold on to it no matter what and afraid that if he let go something bad would happen. _Probably his way to try to deal with what he had seen._

Seeing the distant and scared look on the child, Yuuko started to hum a small tune that suddenly kept repeating itself in the back of her mind as if it was a song she had sang more than once in her life, but it was unknown to her. The tune was smoothing and it gave them strength. Cloud's eyes were slowly returning to present, no longer lost in the maze his mind had created to protect him from the harshness of reality. Tears started to form, but the boy quickly brushed them away, refused to show any form of weakness.

'Hey, hey,' the Wutainese said gently as she grabbed hold his arm with her free hand and knelt down so that they were on the same eye level. 'It's alright Cloud. It's alright to show your weakness. Don't be afraid. You don't always have to be the strong one.'

A few drops of tear escaped at first before it turned into a flood. The young boy buried his face onto his friend's shoulder, sobbing quietly. Yuuko slowly rubbed small circles on his back as she continued humming, wanting nothing more than Cloud's spirits to rejuvenate. Being broken once not so long ago, the wounds in her heart was still fresh and hurt her more when she saw someone else's sadness, but still... she had remained strong and came out stronger. She really hoped Cloud would too.

After humming for half an hour did Cloud had finally stopped crying and had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Mrs. Strife carefully pulled her son away from the girl and went upstairs to tuck him in bed.

'Sorry about my son. He's... euh... a little sensitive,' Mrs. Strife started when she returned to the living room.

'It's alright Mrs. Strife, you don't need to apologize. Cloud didn't do anything wrong,' Yuuko replied calmly, but part of her was frustrated. What rumours did the other villagers kept gossiping behind the mother and son? They had practically squashed down any self-confidence these two might have left. One refused to believe he had the power in him to make a difference and he was as normal as anyone else, the other always apologize for things that weren't even their fault to begin with. 'I actually want to talk to Cloud about something.'

'Did he do something stupid? I apologize if he did-'

'No, he didn't.'

'Then what?' The blond woman suddenly panicked as if her son had a death warrant.

'It's nothing bad Mrs. Strife. I just want to ask him if he will like to accept my mentorship.' Yuuko tried to explain and calm the panicking woman at the same time. It was amazing how the villagers in this god forsaken town could cause so much harm to a simple broken family.

It was after a lot of explanation and conviction that Mrs. Strife finally caught the reigns of her emotions. Though that left Yuuko quite tired, she wasn't able to keep up with the high and low of Cloud's mother, she preferred running, jumping, chopping and hunting for three days than trying to keep up with her. At least, Mrs. Strife agreed to discuss this with his son and accepted to allow her to teach his son should he ever agree.

With that done, Yuuko left their house satisfy. _Next patient on the list, from Vampire Lair, Mr. Corpse._

* * *

><p>Actually, Yuuko had no idea or plan on how to get the man in red out of the bloody crypt. She had considered hitting him in the head and dragging him out of there, but sounded too much like kidnapping so, here she was pacing before the hidden door at night, thinking and weighting her options like there was no tomorrow.<p>

Who knew that thinking about how to get a stubborn man out of his old coffin could be so hard? Then again, her mother was quite stubborn too, but in a more active way, so she knew how to deal with people like her, but this man, he was silent and almost statue-like, no scratch that, it was more like a heavily warded wall. Lost in her thoughts, she hardly noticed the small footsteps coming towards her until a shy voice called her name. She looked up startled to see Cloud standing by the door way.

The frown on her face from all the heavy thinking had vanished and replaced by a gentle smile. It was a little odd for her get so easily happy and glad whenever she was with Cloud. It was like she had finally met a long lost old friend. Maybe it was because she saw a bit of herself in Cloud, being an outcast who didn't really belong in town.

'Hi there,' Yuuko greeted the child with a smile.

Cloud looked down on his feet, hesitating, before he said in a whisper, 'It's what mother said to me is true about...'

'Yes.'

'Why? I mean, I'm not strong or smart, not like Tifa and the other. Why pick me instead of them?' Cloud questioned her as if he being offered an apprenticeship was farfetched.

Yuuko walked closer to the boy, putting her hands on her knees as she leant down, and said, 'The reason was because I saw that you have the potential in you to be stronger, your strength was inside you all along, Cloud. You simply need to have the courage to reach out for it. Don't doubt yourself every time. You are just as same as everyone else.'

Blue eyes shone gratefulness in them as they stared at her for a second before they turned into horror. A low growl sounded behind her and Yuuko, whose instinct was screaming at her to run, caught Cloud by the waist and rushed out of the room, then a loud crash sounded behind her, but she didn't need to turn her head to see what was running after them, since Cloud was already shouting things a giant monster with purple or orange fur.

Trying to buy some time for Cloud to escape or at least hide, Yuuko jumped over the banister and landed both of them safely in the main entrance. She put Cloud on the floor and told him to get away before she turned around to face whatever monster that was chasing them.

The monster stood atop of the stairs, roaring wildly as it stomped the floor. Yuuko wasn't sure how to class this... thing in any monsters' category she had seen so far. It looked like a giant humanoid with no head and had two different faces on the chest. One side was red flamboyant with some faint yellow-orange fur and its limbs were giant tentacles and the other had scale-like purple skin with the tips of its arm and leg in icky-green. One word was enough to describe this monster. Ugly.

'Hey ugly over here!' Yuuko shouted loudly, hoping to gain the monster's attention and keeping said attention on instead of the young blond and it worked when the beast roared at her challengingly.

The swordswoman quickly jumped back a few steps when the monster tried body slammed her and drew out her katana. Sparks shot out of her hand and hit the monster squarely in the chest, but the lightning spell she used seemed to annoy it more than harm it, so she switched to a more physical tactics.

Slashing and trusting the red fur skin on the right side seemed to be a good idea, because the monster was rather big, it had a lot of difficulties to catch someone who was fast and short like her and his right side seemed to have very slow reflexes. It was like watching someone trying to get rid of a restless pestering bug, except that said bug was her.

After a few more slashes and minor spells, the gigantic being was finally dead. Yuuko wiped off some sweat on her forehead before she sheathed her weapon, letting out a relief sigh that the battle was over, but a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be able to talk to the stranger tonight after this much sudden activities. Now that she thought about it, she was feeling kind of hungry.

Turning around, she immediately spotted Cloud hiding behind one of the doorway, smiling at her hesitantly as he stepped out of his hiding place. His eyes held admiration and astonishment.

* * *

><p>What Yuuko did was awesome! Cloud had never seen someone who could fight against monster that was as big as a Nibel Dragon like that. Despite being smaller than her opponent and lack of great strength, she still managed to defeat it! He was about to ask the Wutainese how she did those moves when suddenly a giant icky-green hand grabbed her by the waist.<p>

'Yuuko!' Cloud shouted as he watched the supposedly dead monster rose up, choking the air out of the swordswoman in his hand. The monster was different than before, its right side was no longer red and furry. It was completely scaly purple now. Fear bolted the child on the floor where he stood as he continued to stare at Yuuko who tired vainly to escape the iron-grip on her. Then the Wutainese cast a thunder spell that hit the monster's eyes directly, causing it to howl in pain and threw the girl against the wall that cracked under the impact.

Cloud, too scared of what had happened in just a minute or two, watched as Yuuko coughed out some blood on the floor, looking about to faint at any given moment. Everything suddenly seemed to slow down for the young blond and the sounds had been muffled. Watching the person who protected him in such a broken state brought back the dark taunts from the other kids.

Saying he was pathetic...

Saying he was useless...

Saying he was weak...

Saying... that he would never be able to protect anything...

No one... not even himself...

He was just a burden for everyone, his mother... and now Yuuko...

He was pulled out of his dark thoughts by a deafening roar near him. Cloud looked up to see the enormous monster was about to smash him with his fist, but he couldn't find the strength to run or even scream. _Maybe... it's better if I was gone..._ The blond closed his eyes and waited for the deadly blow that would surely kill him, but the strike never came.

Surprised, he opened one eye to see what was going on to find Yuuko standing before him blocking the gigantic fist with one hand as if it was nothing but a simple punch thrown by a child.

'Protect...' Yuuko whispered. Cloud looked at her, confused. 'Protect... I must protect...'

Just as she finished her last word, she pushed back the enormous fist in one weak shove before she jumped high in the air and kicked the face of the monster, knocking it back a couple of feet. Then she used the monster body as a stepping stone, she jumped back up with her weapon drawn out and cut the monstrous being in half neatly, dark red blood splashed across her face.

The creature vanished in a bright green light that dissipated into million of small particles that looked like fireflies in the air. Cloud could do nothing other than watched in awe as the lights danced around them for another minute before they were extinguished, then he heard a faint thud. The blond looked back down to find Yuuko lying on the ground unconscious.

'Yuuko!' Cloud called out as he went besides her, pulling back the hair covering her face, he was relief to see that she was still breathing, but her breaths came out in short painful pants as if she had some difficulties to breath.

_What should I do? What should I do? What should I DO?_ Cloud thought in panic. He couldn't just go back to the town and ask someone to help, they would just think that he was pulling a prank on them and he didn't want to leave Yuuko here when she could die or get eaten by something! Who could possibly help them?

Then he remembered that this mansion was not uninhabited. Deciding that the stranger in basement was the best help he could get for Yuuko, Cloud quickly got up and ran to the room where the hidden door was. He quickly opened it and descended into the dark tunnel, keeping his fears for the darkness surrounding him at bay, as he got inside the coffin room blindly.

Feeling around with his hands for a second before he found the stone casket, he pushed the lid opened with a grunt for every inch he managed to push opened until it fell to the ground. The echo of the clank the lid made awoke the seemingly sleeping man inside the coffin. He was scared, but he couldn't let his fears ruled over him right now, not when someone needed help.

'Please...,' Cloud whispered, slightly out of breath. 'Help... Yuuko... needs help...'

Glowing crimson eyes regarded him stoic for a moment, Cloud was suddenly afraid that the man wouldn't help them. Then the man closed his eyes for a moment, causing Cloud to lose his temporary light, before the child heard the soft ruffling and felt the man stepped out of the stone casket.

Taking it as yes, the boy quickly moved towards the exit and went back to the upper floor, stopping once a while on the way to make sure that the man was indeed following him. They quickly made it back to where Yuuko was, but Cloud was more worried when he saw the girl's skin was flushed.

The stranger observed the injured girl for a moment before he took out one of the green orb in her armguard and held it close to her, and then green tendrils shot out of the crystal orb and slowly enveloped Yuuko's body.

When the green light faded, Yuuko's breathing became more stable, but her skin still remained flushed as if she was having a high fever. The man in red touched the girl's forehead for a moment before he picked her up in bridal style and moved towards the stairs.

Cloud followed him to one of the old dusty bedroom on the second floor. The blond quickly pulled away the old covers of the bed, trying to get rid of the dust as best as he could before the dark haired man placed Yuuko on the bed.

Cloud looked at the sleeping teenager who he came to admire and like. He had decided from that moment on, that he would gladly accept to be her apprentice, hoping that he would become stronger later on so that he could protect her and his mother just like they did to him and no longer be a burden, but a shield to defend them.

* * *

><p><em>It was weird...<em>

_Yuuko looked around the darkness. There were no light, only dark voids._

_Then a small sound echoed in the dark. The sounds seemed to be coming from under her._

_Yuuko looked down to see ripples forming underneath her feet. Was she standing on top of water?_

_The ripples slowly spread out and outlines appeared as if someone had drawn them on paper. Dark smooth-looking stones started to form, glowing white trees filled with life were made and the dark world she was trapped in was lighted by the beautiful full moon high above her._

_This scenery looked very familiar. She was here before... but where? When?_

_Everything was just too familiar... Every placement of the stones, of the trees, even the winds in the air and the small ripples of the lake she stood on top of..._

_This was... her sanctuary..._

_Her..._

'Yuuko?' a voice called out.

Almost instantly, everything vanished and was replaced by old brownish ceiling. Yuuko blinked a couple of time, unsure if she was still dreaming or she was awaked, she turned her head to the side to see Cloud blinking owlishly at her. Then what happened last night hit her head on and she almost jumped out of the bed, but fell back on it when pain shot through her body.

'You shouldn't move too much,' Cloud exclaimed as he put his tiny hands on her arm.

It felt painful, but she expected more pain than simple arches from all over her body. She knew that the monster had crushed one or two of her bones, but she didn't felt anything wrong with her bones, they felt intact. Her injuries seemed to be more like made from heavy beatings than bone-crushing hits.

'How?' Yuuko winced a bit, feeling her throat so sore that even a simple word hurt her.

'Here, drink this,' someone said. Yuuko looked up to see the stranger of the coffin handing her a potion, which she took gratefully. The potion had helped satisfied her thirst and took away some of her pains.

'Thank you... I- We never caught your name.' The man in red looked away from her and muttered something too soft for her or Cloud to hear. 'Huh?'

'Vincent,' the man, Vincent, answer a little louder.

'Vincent,' Yuuko repeated, tasting the name on her tongue. 'It's a beautiful name.'

Vincent spared a glance at her for a second before he looked away again, which made the Wutainese smiled a bit, feeling that the older man had never been complimented for his name.

Yuuko felt less lonely. Now that she had Cloud and Vincent, if the man didn't decide to go back to sleep in his coffin, the whole idea of staying in this gossiping town for a long time didn't sounded so bad anymore.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope everyone like how the story is going so far. Please review!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer - I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. The only character that belong to me is Yuuko. Enjoy another chapter!**

* * *

><p>Decision, Decision, Decision...<p>

Yuuko watched as a 13-going-to-14-year-old Cloud took up two heavy buckets of water he collected from the small river located high in the Nibel Mountains. The blond was still rather short and skinny, but unlike when he was younger, he now possessed strength, confidence and intelligence.

For three years and a half, she gave him simple, but hard tasks such as fetching water with heavy buckets from a very far distance, fixing broken furniture, taking care of Koro and doing daily things with heavy weight bangles on his limbs. The villagers all questioned about her idea of training, but what they didn't understood was that she wanted Cloud to understand the meaning of life, respect and loyalty. To be able to accept humiliation and misunderstanding, despite doing the right things and to gain his reward by enduring hardship upon hardship. It was something that cannot be taught, it can only be learned. It was only after two years of this sort-of-freelance training did she started to teach him how to fight with a sword and his fists, but Cloud was a natural with the sword.

Knowledge was a bit harder to achieve in Nibelheim, since the shipment of books were often late and the materials in the books weren't very recent. Still, Yuuko was able to improvise and to teach Cloud everything she knew through examples seen in nature to drawings, sometimes it required being in an actual situation for the blond to understand.

Even though these years were hard for them, but it was fun. Cloud had complained since day one of their intense training regiment, but as time progressed, he complained less and became more excited for each of their trip to the mountains. People might think that Yuuko was the mentor who didn't did anything with her pupil like Zangan who taught his students and trained with them at the same time. Oh she had enough works in her arms, they just didn't notice very much.

As she and Cloud returned to the small backwater town, a shadow jumped out from behind small bushes with a war cry. _Oh, here we go again._

Yuuko nonchalantly blocked the right air-kick from a 13-year-old Tifa Lockhart clad in a brown cowgirl suit. It had become a sort of habit for Tifa to ambush her everyday ever since Yuuko saved her and Cloud when the old bridge in Mt. Nibel had collapsed. She had lectured Tifa with the same moral that the old monk had given her about death and told her to move on, but unlike her, the brunette had not taken the lesson very well. In fact, Tifa had blamed _her_ for her fall, when it was herself who tried to cross the worn-out bridge just to "meet her mother on the other side".

In other word, the young Lockhart had developed an unhealthy dose of jealousy and hatred towards her. The reasons? Well, saving her from her fall seemed like one, and stealing her title of being the greatest apprentice of Zangan sounded like another. Anyhow, here they were, fighting this pointless combat like every other day.

'I'll tell mom you won't be long,' Cloud said over his shoulder as he ducked and dodged the fists and kicks from the women while keeping the water from spilling from the buckets.

'Yeah, I'll be there in a minute,' Yuuko replied as she blocked each strike coming towards her. Despite her complaining about Tifa's sudden attacks, she was kind of glad for the exercises she got from her, it kept her on her toes. Deciding to end this quickly, because she was hungry and she really couldn't resist the call of Freya Strife's Rabbit Stew, she preformed one of Zangan's best techniques, the Dolphin Blow, which Tifa hadn't been able to master. The hit had knocked back the brunette a few feet, leaving her sprawled on the ground.

At first, Yuuko thought she might have overdone it, but when she heard the groan of frustration, she decided otherwise. Sometimes she questioned the smaller girl's diets and exercises. She could be as tough as a behemoth! Not wanting to give the girl any chance to attack her again, she quickly ran back to the Strife residence.

'That makes 35756 wins for Yuuko and 0 for Tifa,' Cloud announce dramatically when she stepped into the house.

'You better not let Tifa hears the record you have set for us or I will be having her chasing after me in my sleep too,' the 21-year-old girl warned as she took her seat. She had been living with the Strife for three years now and they had kind of adopted her, making her akin of a step-sister of Cloud.

The Wutainese took a deep breath of the wonderful smell of the stew in front of her. It was nostalgic to be able to taste something so similar to her mother's cooking. Even with Freya trying to be a mother figure for both Cloud and her, she still missed her deceased mother dearly.

'Here's the extra stew you ask,' Cloud's mother said as she put down a thermos on the table. It was another habit of theirs, Yuuko often asked Freya to prepare some extra for Vincent, though both she and Cloud had not told the older woman the existence of the man in red, preferred to keep it between them. Of course, Vincent had told them that he needed not of food or drinks, but Yuuko still gave food and had bugged him every day until he finally indulged her and started eating something instead of dust and cobweb, with her watching of course, she didn't want Freya's delicious foods ended up in the dumpster.

After they had finished their lunch, Yuuko picked up the thermos and headed outside, while Cloud stayed behind to help his mother clean up, but the boy told her he would be joining her after he was done with the cleaning.

'Don't forget your text books,' Yuuko shouted over her shoulder before the door closed. The swordswoman was rather glad that the villagers no longer tried to keep tabs on her and Cloud's whereabouts during their training and gossiped on their backs. So they could go into the mansion without really arising much suspicion.

When she arrived at the mansion, the first place she ever went to was the piano room. It might sound strange to people, but ever since they made acquaintance with Vincent, the tune she remembered in the back of her mind slowly turned into a lullaby-of-sort. The lyrics were still a bit hazy to remember correctly.

Yuuko gently played the lullaby on the piano, humming with the notes until the lyrics took their turns.

_Once upon a time_

_Archangel in the sky_

_Made comfort every night_

_Once upon a time_

_Archangel loved me so_

_It's a miracle_

_In the snow_

_My heart won't be cold_

The rest was still unknown to her, but she got a feeling that every word in the song would have a special meaning to her in the future.

She repeated the notes again and again, slightly hoping that the rest of the lyrics would appear inside her mind, she only stopped when she felt another silent presence in the room.

'How's today Vincent?' Yuuko greeted him, smiling and without turning to look at the stoic man. Vincent never really reacted much to her or Cloud, he either stayed silent in their conversation or he simply answered cryptically, so she settled to just do all the talking in their one-sided conversation.

'Good,' Vincent replied as he went to sit by the corner, listening to her music as usual.

Yuuko's smile widened a bit with relief. After spending three to four years with Vincent, she started to understand him a little better. The man in red often had recurring nightmares of _sins_ as he told them, so if he replied meant that his nightmares weren't very bad, when he stayed silent meant they were extremely horrifying and when he stayed locked up in his coffin meant they were things he rather died than to let it reoccurred again.

The only thing that gave the man some peace of mind was her music, so she decided to come and play for him everyday. It was better than being holed up in a casket for who knew how long and waited for the dark thoughts to clear away.

Cloud liked her playing piano too and he told her once that she played much better than Tifa. The three of them often spent the rest of their days in the piano room like this, she played the instrument, Vincent remained the silent spectator and Cloud admired her song while reading one of the new books she brought for him. It was a daily routine that none of them minded and grew comfortable with.

It was just another day of their long life.

* * *

><p>That night, Yuuko helped Freya prepared the cotton mattress for the upcoming winter, while Cloud was sleeping. It was ritual for the two women to prepare everything that were necessary for the seasons at night while their young charge was asleep, but tonight there was something else going on and Yuuko could smell the anxiousness coming from Freya.<p>

'Freya? What's wrong?' Yuuko asked worriedly as she placed her hand reassuringly on the mother's.

'Nothing,' Freya replied hesitantly. 'It's just... seeing both of you starting to grow up makes me... feel like both of you were going to be very far away from me one of these days.'

Yuuko shook her head lightly as she replied, 'We aren't going anywhere. We'll stay here with you, so don't worry.'

'I know. I know you both would. I... I just can't and don't want to keep you two in this place,' the older woman said in a whisper. 'Both of you were a gift to me by Odin. Having both of you with me everyday was a blessing that I can't ask for more.'

'What are you talking about?' Yuuko asked concerned, not fully understanding her meaning.

'I know Cloud wants to join SOLDIER to prove himself to me and to you and you have much more to see and to do in this life than staying with me,' Freya explained.

Yuuko sighed heavily as she recalled the day that Cloud showed her the newspaper that stated how glorious ShinRa was and how their prized hero of SOLDIER did to achieve victory and such. Cloud told her that he wanted to enter the SOLDIER program when he was old enough to be their protector. Yuuko refused to let him do such thing and told him that SOLDIER was nothing than a den of monster where people who might have a kind heart and lost it along the way to become the so called great ShinRa's elite or they were forced to bury it. Not wanting Cloud to share the same fate as Sephiroth, she crushed down his dream, but she knew very clearly that the young still dreamt of being able to accomplish his dream one day.

Also, she didn't want Freya to find herself all alone. ShinRa's army didn't really need Cloud; his mother needed him more than anyone else. Truthfully, Yuuko envied Cloud. He had what she no longer had, a mother who would love him unconditionally and would love him even if he had changed beyond recognition. This was something that was more precious than any glory or possession that one could owned on the Planet.

'The debt that no one could ever repay was the debt towards their parent who put everything they have for their children and never ask anything in return,' Yuuko whispered sadly. 'A debt that I haven't been able to repay. I don't want Cloud ends up like me.'

Freya laid a hand on her head as she said, 'I know why you didn't want him to go pursue his dream, but I want him to be who he chooses to be, to see what I can never show him, to learn what I was unable to teach him, to experience things that I will not be able to. _You_ are the only one who can give these to Cloud.'

'Freya... I don't want you to be all alone,' Yuuko replied exasperatingly.

'I am not afraid of being alone, I'm afraid of Cloud's future,' the blond haired woman said sadly. 'Go get some sleep. I'll take care of the rest and... think about it...'

Too many thoughts were running through her head, Yuuko decided to just go to bed and thought thoroughly everything. When she was on the second floor, she heard some shuffling sounds behind Cloud's room, making the Wutainese sighed heavily as she opened the door and entered the room.

'Cloud...' Yuuko called out quietly at the wrapped up bundle in the covers and received no answer. 'I know you know that I know that you aren't sleeping.'

Still no answer...

'Cloud... When... when I told you give up being a SOLDIER, it's not because I don't believe you aren't up to it. I just feel that your mother needs you more than SOLDIER does. Your mom and I know that you didn't let go of that dream... I just... I just don't want you or Freya ends up all alone in the world like me...' Yuuko explained softly before she reached down and placed her hand on where she believed to the boy's shoulder in the bundle. 'I'll be at Vincent's place if you want to find me.'

Yuuko opened the window and jumped into the night, making her way silently to the old abandoned mansion.

* * *

><p>For the first time in her whole life, or what she remembered of, Yuuko decided that sleeping in the basement crypt was not exactly the brightest idea she can up with. Vincent was having an extremely bad nightmare last night, so his coffin was bolted tight, which meant no listener to hear her ramblings and she was exhausted physically and emotionally, so she decided to just rest her head against the cold stone of the lid and went to sleep.<p>

When she woke up, she found herself inside Vincent's coffin, with a pillow and blanket. Yuuko really didn't have the slightest idea of if she should be shouting, crying or laughing at her position. Really, did Vincent had bitten her and turned her into a vampire while she was sleeping?

The silly thought made her giggled uncontrollably until she was out of breath. She felt around her, feeling the velvet material of the coffin's interior. Somehow, being trapped inside the casket didn't scare as much as she thought she would, it gave a sense of peace of sort. It was like, she knew her fate was sealed and it was useless to fight against it, so she should just let things be... the outside world was not a place for her to be...

_Is this why you preferred to stay stuck in your coffin than being free in the outside world?_ Yuuko thought absentmindedly, not realizing that someone had opened the coffin until her eyes were focused on the red irises hovering above her.

Yuuko blinked a few times before she smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry. Didn't mean to take your bed.'

'You seem comfortable.' A simple statement like always. The Wutainese sat up in the coffin and stretched herself, since she wasn't used to sleeping in a dead corpse' bed, her muscles and bones were all stiffed.

'Yeah, I'll remind myself to think twice before I come drag you out of your coffin,' Yuuko replied as she got out of the stone coffin. 'Now I know why you like it that much. It's peaceful, in a gothic sense.'

Vincent rewarded her compliment with a smile, which was something from non-existent to extremely rare. 'You have a great smile.' Yuuko mentally hit herself with a heavy iron pan. She should not have said that out loud. The man seemed to take everything that was complimentary to be horrid jabs towards him.

Though the man's face returned to its stoic expression, he gave her a reply. 'Thank you.'

This brought back a smile on Yuuko. For once, since they met, Vincent had accepted her compliment and he was being more sociable than before. At least he said a few more words as a response than a nod or a shake of the head or not giving a straight answer. She found the change to be quite welcomed, but also alienating. If Vincent started to change after being with them for three years, then if Cloud went into SOLDIER, would the innocent step-brother of hers become someone who no longer held any emotion in him?

The thought scared her...

Changes... scared her...

So many things changed around her. She could barely remember how things used to be. The days of when she had gone hunting all day long with no worry were so far away that they were almost lost to her.

She didn't want any more changes...

War had changed her and the village... So much had changed...

No more... No more... No more...

'Yuuko,' Vincent called out. The deep voice of Vincent brought her back to Gaia, then she felt hands on hers, one was cold metal, the other was leather. Vincent was holding her. 'You are scared.'

'Yes...' Yuuko said as she held Vincent's hands tighter. She might not feel any warmth from the hands holding hers, but she could feel the power emanating from beneath the armoured gloves, it somehow reassured her, making her feel safer. The power she felt inside Vincent was untameable and dark, but it was familiar and it wasn't scaring her.

'I'm... I'm scared of changes... I just...' Yuuko began, unsure how to explain everything. 'It's like the water tides were slowly pulling me further and further away from the land and drowning me in the ocean.' How ironic. Being found in the sea and was dragged back to the sea. 'I am no longer sure of what the right thing to do is and what's not. I'm scared Vincent. I'm scared that I will fail Cloud, that I will lead him to a doomed fate.'

'Yuuko. You aren't a goddess,' Vincent said sternly as he placed a hooked finger underneath her chin and lifted her head up so their gaze met. 'You can't be in control of everything. You have to let go when Cloud starts to choose which path he wants to take, you can't always be beside him to protect him from everything.'

'I know, but I don't just want to watch him stumbles and makes a huge mistake that he'll regret later.' What she just said caused Vincent to freeze for a second before he pulled away. 'Vincent?'

Yuuko watched as Vincent sat down, his back against his coffin, not facing her. 'All I ever did was watch and then...' He lifted his clawed hand, watching it mesmerized. 'That is my sin and this is my punishment...'

The pain and sadness was apparent in his voice. Yuuko could feel it rolling off on the surface of the man's body. Seeing Vincent like this made Yuuko questioned if the reason why he was stuck in the coffin like that and why he was willing to stay inside was because he watched someone he loved deeply made a mistake that led to a dire consequence and did nothing or he did do something but ended up being a prisoner.

When had things turned out to be so complicated in her life? So much had changed in her life that it was making her feel extremely dizzy. Everything was simple to her at the beginning and now, as things progressed, it was blending the white and black she had created to distinguish the good and bad into a mixed grey. No longer were the black and white apparent in front of her.

Yuuko gently wrapped her arms around Vincent and hugged him from behind.

She could feel him stiffened from her sudden contact. 'I don't know what or why I'm doing this, so don't ask. It makes me feel a little better.'

It was true that she felt better by hugging the man, but the problems she had concerning the Strife family were still not solved. For now, she would just heed Vincent's advice and observed how things would be going for Cloud, but she would intervene when she deemed it necessary, she would put her life on the line for Cloud's safety.

'Don't fail like I did,' Vincent whispered as he willed his body to relax.

'I won't. On the bright side, if you didn't fail then we might have never met each other,' Yuuko deducted, trying to lighten the dark and heavy atmosphere.

'That's true.'

* * *

><p><strong>A little warning here, the lyrics aren't my creation, but from someone else and all rights belong to this person. I ask that poeple don't go and search for the whole lyrics of the song. And please review!<strong>


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